Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Drive Angry

The biggest problem with this grindhouse/70's style car flick from Todd Farmer and Patrick Lussier is the almost complete lack of fun. A little humor, maybe a couple of sly winks at the camera, would have helped a story hellbent (so to speak) on trying to be gritty.

Nicolas Cage stars as an escaped soul from Hell who has returned to Earth to kill the leader of a Satanic cult (Billy Burke) who murdered his daughter and plans to sacrifice his granddaughter to bring about Hell on Earth. He's assisted by a spunky waitress (Amber Heard, the only one here who seems to be enjoying herself) and hunted by an Accountant (William Fichtner) enlisted to return him to Hell.

Here's what I knew going into Drive Angry: Nicolas Cage is occasionally wildly entertaining when choosing crazy projects like this one, and Amber Heard is really hot.

Here's what I knew after finishing the movie: Cage isn't even close to the level of bat-shit crazy needed to make this pedestrian script work, and Amber Heard is really hot... and has some acting ability as well. You can decide for yourself if that's enough to spend money on this rather forgettable film.

Available on both Blu-ray and "Special Edition" DVD, the one-disc includes audio commentary with Lussier and Farmer, a short making of the film featurette, and deleted scenes. The other extra is a condensed highlight reel of all the film's action scenes which keeps a running tally of Cage's destruction by awarding him points like a video game. Had the film had this kind of humor I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

Drive Angry isn't awful, but in better hands it could have been a hellova lot of fun. It's too bad the film only strives, and only partially succeeds, in being mildly diverting

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