Review of Drive Angry (2011) by Ola G — 26 Apr 2012

John Milton (Nicholas Cage) is up against the clock: Jonah King, the leader of a Satanic cult, has murdered Milton's daughter and kidnapped her baby. In three days, King and his followers will sacrifice the child at midnight. Milton picks up the trail in Oklahoma as well as rescuing a waitress named Piper (Amber Heard) from her brutal, two-timing fiancé. There are odd things about Milton: his driver's license is out of date, he has a very strange gun named The God-Killer, and he's being pursued by a man in a suit who calls himself The Accountant (William Fichtner). Milton continues his hunt for King with Piper by his side while the time is ticking....

"Drive Angry" carries a grindhouse identity (just the name is a hint at it), but it doesn´t really end up as a full blown grindhouse action flick. I reckon if they would have taken the same route as "Machete" with "Drive Angry" it would have worked much better. Now it´s some sort of mishmash between grindhouse and a standard action movie with a cartoony backdrop. Nicholas Cage is not that convincing as Milton. I am quite tired of him in general I must say. He needs to reboot. Amber Heard is however a sight for sore eyes. I reckon she fits very well as the though and sexy Piper. It´s hard to not become completely mesmerized by her. I really like her. Looking forward to see her in "The Rum Diary". Without her this would have been slightly lamer for sure. And, not the best CGI for sure...... All in all, this is not a complete disaster, but like I said, if they would have done it with a much more classic grindhouse wink in the eye, this would have been pretty alright I reckon.