Sometimes you just got to take a film at face value. Or title value. When you see the title “Drive Angry” what else would you be expecting? You know that this is not going to be “The King’s Speech”. No British accents or proper manners in this one. Especially when you see that it is starring Nicolas Cage. He seems to have finally accepted the fact that he is not capable of anything other than mindless action, so he doesn’t even pretend to do anything else anymore. He really isn’t capable of “Leaving Las Vegas” anymore and seems to have accepted that finally. Guy is just trying to collect some paychecks so he can pay back the tax man. He’s got to earn a living, folks. Don’t begrudge him that.
Even if you are not a big Cage fan, I fall into that category myself, you can still enjoy Patrick Lussier’s (My Bloody Valentine, Dracula 2000) “Drive Angry”. Especially since it is in 3D. It is one of the few 3D films that I have seen lately that has warranted and taken advantage of the technology.
This is your prototypical good guy versus bad guy action film. The good guy has a rather large bad ass side to him, but you still like and root for him. His preferred mode of transportation is, of course, an American-made muscle car. There are plenty of guns, chases, fist fights, and explosions to keep the attention of action film fans. The story is definitely weak and has plenty of…ummm….let’s call them “limits”. Things keep on moving at a good pace so it does not allow you to get bogged down in problems with the story. Yes, there is more clichéd dialogue than you can shake a stick at. I’m going to chalk that up to them going for the B film/cult film audience. It is dumb but it revels in its dumbness. The stupid script is appropriate for a film like this. They seem to relish in making it as silly as possible.
In a nutshell the story is about a vengeful father (Nicolas Cage) who escapes from Hell (don’t ask!) in order to chase after the demonic Jonah King (Billy Burke), who killed his daughter for her baby. Milton joins forces with Piper (Amber Heard) to find King along with his minions and rescue his granddaughter. Meanwhile, the Devil is not very amused that Milton has escaped, so he has sent The Accountant (William Fichtner) after him to bring him back.
Another let’s say “interesting” facet of the film is its violence. To be succinct there is plenty of it and it is of the graphic nature. This is enhanced by the 3D technology. At certain points I put my hand to my face expecting to find blood there. It was flying around everywhere. That was always flying around plus dismembered body parts and heads being blown off. Don’t take this one in if you are squeamish.
