Movie Review: Drive Angry (2011)

It’s important to make sure a film’s intention is taken into consideration when looking to evaluate it fairly. Most of the time I don’t think it is necessary to point this out, but with Drive Angry I figured I’d make a special exception.

Drive Angry is a bad film. This is a reality that will be defended by some saying things such as “It’s not supposed to be an Oscar contender!” “What did you expect?” and “Just shut off your brain and be entertained.” Fair enough, but if I say to you, “Garbage stinks,” I don’t think you’ll defend that fact by jumping into a dumpster. But I digress, back to the movie…

When it comes to Drive Angry, we are talking about a film with a ridiculous premise as Nicolas Cage plays Nicolas Cage (his character’s name isn’t important) in a film in which Nicolas Cage breaks out of Hell to avenge the death of his daughter and save his grand daughter from a cult of Satanists led by Billy Burke (Twilight).

What’s most interesting about this is there are aspects that are rather intriguing. The whole revenge plot is pretty much standard, but the breaking out of Hell part adds a nice twist. Throw in William Fichtner as one of Satan’s modulators and you have yourself a movie. Yet, in its attempts to be over the top, Drive Angry stumbles to the finish.

Certain moments such as Fichtner’s use of a baseball bat, a mid-coital gun fight a la Shoot ‘Em Up and some of the cheesy dialogue is a bit fun, but in the end too much of this is routine to ever be considered an inventive B-movie. Instead it’s a run-of-the-mill D-movie with an inexplicably hefty production budget.

Some will argue it’s meant to be bad, which is why you should “turn your brain off and enjoy the ride.” The “turn your brain off” defense is legitimate for many popcorn features, but it only works if a movie allows you to do so. As a thinking person I don’t just shut down. I make note of what’s going on in a film and if a film allows me to, my brain won’t shut down as much as it just goes on autopilot. This is why we overlook plot holes in great blockbusters such as The Dark Knight. But when one scene after another features Cage mowing down a new batch of nameless baddies I can’t help but begin to nitpick and ask just why the hell I should be watching this? Especially if each scene is going to mirror the next.

Cage is joined by Amber Heard, an actress with very little talent to speak of, which is to imply she’s an example of perfect casting. Heard’s lack of ability isn’t helped by the script either. She gets the brunt of the bad dialogue with such gems as “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t shoot you in the face” and “I’ve been waiting on tables, waiting on fools and waiting for it all to mean something.” However, it’s when she says something along the lines of, “People messing with things that ought not be messed with turns my shit white,” that made me nearly fall out of my chair. Yes, among the banality there are moments of awfulness that also entertain.

Fichtner is so good you forget Cage has thrown his career down the toilet. While films such as this and Season of the Witch have become Cage’s stomping grounds, I began thinking to myself, What is William Fichtner doing here? He’s better than this. With a characteristic tick to his tock, Fichtner delivers a highly entertaining character that stands above the stupidity. He seems to have embraced the awful and flows with it rather than Cage’s seemingly uncontrollable ability to contribute to it. You laugh with Fichtner and at Cage. There’s a difference.

I would probably be more inclined to go gentler on this film had I not learned it cost upwards of $50 million to make. My guess, based on the piss poor CGI, a half-assed sound mix and a script that seems to still be in the spec stage, was they spent $19 million and not a penny more. How director Patrick Lussier (My Bloody Valentine) managed to burn $50 million and turn in a film with effects that still look unfinished is beyond me. Perhaps David Morse is charging more for his Wilford Brimley-esque cameos than I would have thought.

Should you brave Drive Angry? If you do, you may as well see it in 3D. Lussier does have a bit of fun with the medium in a way I think 3D movies were meant to be seen… as a gimmick to support lesser films. Perhaps under the right influence and in a crowd of similarly affected friends, you may have some fun, but I can’t believe anyone could actually call this good.

GRADE: D+

Movie News

Marvel and DC

X