Review of Drive Angry (2011) by Nuclear O — 09 Feb 2012

Drive Angry is beyond doubt the most ridiculous film I've seen all year, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. In many ways it's an awful piece of work; a grisly and sleazy film with unnecessary nudity and brainless explosions, but displayed with such audacity and lack of pretension that you can't help but admire the sheer tastelessness on offer.

Nicholas Cage plays himself as usual, this time with the name Milton (such a blatant nod to Paradise Lost that it's scarcely worth pointing out). He's a fast driving, gun-toting madman intent on revenge. Who or what he's after isn't immediately apparent, and it's not until his back-story comes into play that the film really takes off. His love interest is diner waitress Piper (Amber Heard, tasked with little more than being blonde and showing off her arse in tight denim hotpants). After Milton saves Piper from her abusive boyfriend, the two team up on a cross-state adventure to avenge the murder of Milton's daughter by cult leader Jonah Hill (Billy Burke). All the while, the two are chased by a mysterious man known only as the Accountant (the ever reliable William Fichtner, aka That Guy from Prison Break, The Dark Knight and a million other films). So far so bog standard.

I was far from impressed by the first half of the film, which plays like a substandard throwaway revenge shoot 'em up. However, the film changed gears radically when our heroes confront Hill for the first time; specifically, Milton is shot through the eye and killed. You have to admit that offing the main character at such an early stage is a departure from the norm, one which left the audience slightly bemused. What happened next stretched credulity past breaking point; and in my opinion made the film. After Hill and his followers kidnap Piper intent on using her as a human sacrifice, Milton rises from the dead and goes in hot pursuit. It turns out that he has actually been dead for years, but has escaped from Hell (in a car) to seek his revenge, and The Accountant is one of the Devil's minions intent on dragging Milton back to the Below with the help of his satanic shotgun.

This thoroughly laughable revelation, is a sea-change that transforms the film from simply bad to wantonly ridiculous; and all the better for it. With no motive to maintain any sense of realism or subtlety, the film can break from the typical restraints of taste and decency, and deliver unadulterated mindless entertainment with everyone hamming it up to 11, every special effect overwrought, and every second female actress topless for no good reason. Words cannot do the ensuing cartoonish chaos justice.

It's a terrible mess of a film, but one so hilariously brash that I enjoyed it all the same.

Dir: Patrick Lussier.

Starring: Nicholas Cage, Amber Heard, William Fichtner, Billy Burke.

Running time: 105 mins.