Well Nic Cage returns to absurdist almost surreal movies with his revenge driven, Muscle Car festishising, foul mouthed, satanic cult killing action grindhouse flick, Drive Angry, Pure popcorn entertainment and bloody good fun too...
Because of Tarantino and Rodriguez and their unleashing of faux grindhouse films and the fake trailers, well machete is no longer a fake trailer as that film has actually been made, we've seen a deluge of grindhouse 'homages' from Run! Bitch! Run and Bitch Slap to Hobo With A Shotgun and even games jumped on the grindhouse band wagon with games like House Of The Dead: Overkill and Wet. But one film that takes the crazy revenge film of the 70s and adds it's own spin on these exploitation type films is the movie DRIVE ANGRY, a film so incredibly over the top it's hard not to find any enjoyment from it.
Drive Angry follows the usual revenge outline, man goes after people who killed his daughter and kidnapped his grand daughter. That's pretty much what revenge films usually adhere to. Drive Angry adds something else. The man, has actually escaped from hell, the people he is chasing are a satanic cult intent on bringing hell to earth via a sacrifice to satan. The man is being chased by the 'Accountant' basically the grim reaper, who is intent on taking him back to hell. So this revenge film has something a little different and to all people saying this is a grindhouse movie, they're wrong. A grindhouse film isn't a genre, but a name coined for the low budget films shown in these dirty rundown 42nd street picture houses. Drive Angry resembles, to me at least, films like Duel, or Race With The Devil, more accomplished films, but then you do have that exploitation element, The violence, the sex and some of the dialogue leans more towards the 'grindhouse' style, you see I hate using that word, grindhouse. Sure the revenge element is the main plot point and it's done in a natural way, infact thinking about it I was reminded more of Jonathon Hensleigh's The Punisher ('04) with it's use of muscle cars, guns and relentless pacing and that Cage's character will stop at nothing to get the man responsible.
Talking of Cage, Nic Cage in recent years has gone from a respected actor of films such as Bringing Out The Dead and Leaving Las Vegas and has become a sort of laughing stock of Hollywood with films like the remake of The Wickerman and the remake of Bangkok Dangerous, but being a Cage fan I find his films entertaining and Drive Angry is no exception, sure he is litterally playing a variation on Cameron Poe from Con Air mixed with a bit of Bad Lieutenant but it's fun, he's having fun and he's a joy to watch. Everyone goes on about his hair too, which I don't get, who cares about his hair, I don't and in this he has bad bleached blond hair, it doesn't bother me...seriously, it's nowhere near as bad a Tom Hank' barnet in The Da Vinci Code and it sequel. I just have to get my Cage love out there. He's made some bad choices, this we know, but you gotta remember this is the guy from The Rock, Con Air, Castor fucking Troy from Face/Off. He's cool and I'm glad he's making these genre movies. But let's look at his character. Cage plays Milton, The man who escapes from hell to kill those, who in this instance are a devil worshiping cult, responsible for the death of his daughter and the kidnapping of his grand daughter. He's a bad man, He was a bad Husband but a good father. He has a dark past, we don't really know what he did except he and his friend get mixed up with some nefarious types and Cage bites the bullet. So armed with a shotgun, a pistol and what is called 'The Godkiller' Milton returns to earth to exact his revenge. Dressed in black he stops at nothing and Cage plays this like someone intent on finishing what he started. He barely stops for five minutes. Milton is a great character and one I want to see in a sequel.
Next up is Amber Heard. Now I first saw Heard in All The Boys Love Mandy Lane which I think is a cliche'd piece of trash, she was good, but the film was too predictable. Then came Never Back Down, a film about mixed martial arts which I really enjoy, it's like, what if disney made a fight flick set in a high school, but she doesn't get to do much, she's just part of the scenery. She was fun in Pineapple Express playing the whorish teenage girlfriend of Seth Rogan but still nothing to write home about. She was Megan Fox before Megan Fox existed which is sad. Drive Angry finally give Heard something to do and she's awesome, she's funny, foul mouthed and unlike Megan Fox in Jonah Hex, another revenge film, she actually has an integral part in the plot. I hope more films give heard the chance to do more than look pretty because while she is a pleasure to look at she's also a pleasure to see act.
Now comes the the man who steals the entire film. William Fichtner plays the accountant, while not being an A-list actor, this character actor usually steals everything he is in. Best know probably as Alex Mahone from Prison Break, where he litterally out acts everyone and everything, Fichtner has appeared in lots of films. He was great as the bank manager at the start of The Dark Knight, As the marine sargeant Sanderson in Black Hawk Down and many more, but it's great that he gets a chance to take third lead in this film, and he's awesome. He has the best lines, delivered perfectly and they're funny, The best scenes, and he's just great to see finally get some proper screen time, I hope after this Fichtner will get more major roles because he's long over due for the.
The main villain of Drive Angry is a preacher called Jonah King, a religeous psychopath. While I was watching it I kept trying to remember where i'd seen him before. Then while checking on IMDB I discovered, and this is sad, I recognised him because he's the father of Bella Swan in Twilight, now I do not condone watching Twilight, Vampires don't Fucking sparkle, but that is where I recognised him from. Billy Burke is the name and in Drive Angry he couldn't be further removed from Twilight Character, Jonah King is an evil man, he's the kind of character you'd find in an 80s thriller, Thinks he's all cool but is actually a douchbag and Burke plays King brilliantly, he's slimey, sleazy and just down right nasty.
Finally rounding out this awesome cast is probably one of the most underrated actors of all time, the brilliant David Morse. Much like Fichtner, Morse has always been less than A-List but he's such a fantastic actor, usually in a more authoritive position like in The Rock where he played Ed Harris's right hand man or in 16 Blocks where he played a corrupt cope, but recently caused contoversy in the film Hound Dog with Dakota Fanning. But Morse is the kind of actor who you recognise because he has appeared in lots of films and while not given much screen time in Drive Angry it's always a pleasure to see him pop up.
And the film gets even more stars from me as it also has the great genre actor Tom Atkins (Night Of The Creeps) as the cop on the trail of Milton and Heard's Piper. Atkins is just the man, he's been in everything from John Carpenter's The Fog, Halloween 3: Season OF The Witch, Lethal Weapon, Maniac Cop and Striking Distance. He also recently popped up in Drive Angry's directors last film, My Bloody Valentine. So Kudos to director Patrick Lussier for keeping Atkins on film for another few years.
Now to the direction. Director Patrick Lussier has a bit of a ropey back catalogue, he's not exactly known for his quality pictures with a filmography that includes the awful Dracula 2001, it's 2 direct to dvd sequels, the mildly interesting White Noise 2 and the previously mentioned My Bloody Valentine, and while MBV was a hit at the box office, you can't really have high hopes for a film with his name attached but when you get a name like Cage starring in your film, there is a good chance people will actually see it. Lussier, like most film makers these days has opted for the 3D gimick in his films. The obvious culprits are these, flying axe at the screen, bullets at the screen, fly cars at the screen. But while this is exceptionally annoying, it's varied through out the film which isn't a bad thing. The film looks good, it does have the modern sheen that most horror flicks do and does employ an over the top amount of slow motion. But these are all relative when it comes to the action which is expertly shot. There are a lot of obvious CGI shots such as the oil tanker and some of the driving scenes have been shot on an obvious green screen, but it all adds the fun of the film. You know how some directors always have that one film that stands head and shoulders above the rest of their films, but eventually return to making trash cinema because it's the only gig they can get. John Woo had this problem in Hollywood, Face/Off was the best film he made during his time in L.A and after that, nothing could compare. But Lussier I think will always be just another director who luckily had one good film.
So I have to finish this review with my final verdict.
Drive Angry is a fun, violent, OTT, action thriller. It's well made, well acted and entertaining. It out 'Grindhouses' grindhouse in it's exploitative plot. It's a definate beer movie, a blokes film, not exactly a date film but it's bloody good fun. If you want something to watch that is easy to follow and basically a sit down switch off kinda flick, you could do much worse than Drive Angry. It's just alround entertainment and in an age when every film has to have a message about something political or econimcal, it's refreshing to find a film that's only message is don't fuck with Nic Cage's Family...top notch entertainment....
And remember...i never get undressed before a gunfight....
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