By Mrunmai Joshi / Editor’s Assistant
By Mrunmai Joshi / Editor’s Assistant
Drive Angry” has many sleek cars and an equal amount of drivers with road rage issues. But with a name like “Drive Angry,” what more can one expect?
The movie starts out with – surprise! – a high speed car chase where Milton (Nicolas Cage) chases three scared men in a battered pick-up. To no one’s astonishment, he corners them and they give up information on a mysterious she, whom the audience finds out is his granddaughter kidnapped by a Satan worshiping cult intent on mercilessly sacrificing the infant on a full moon.
On his quest to get his granddaughter back, Milton meets the sexy, bold, tough-as-nails Piper (Amber Heard) who he needs for her pretty ride, a vintage Charger.
As she is ensnared into this world of car chases and gun-fights, Piper finds Milton is an escaped felon from Hell come to save the only link he has to his estranged and dead daughter.
While the character is well played and throws many right hooks, always a must in young female protagonists, her fake southern accent does throw the audience for a while until one learns to get used to changing tones. Her deviation from the simpering, screaming, cowering female character is a welcome change.
Sometime hereafter we meet what may be the best character of the entire movie: The Accountant (William Fichtner). His cool, calm demeanor and superhuman strength gives this agent sent from Hell to recapture Milton and bring him back to the Devil, a certain mysterious aura.
His moments of witty banter and dry humor with Milton are quite possibly one of the few saving graces of this outrageous film. Also his fancy coin that turns into an FBI badge to get him out of scrapes might become the most coveted trinket on the market.
Because, let’s admit it, which one of us wouldn’t want a coin that turns into fake identification with a toss and doubles as a boomerang-like weapon that is sharper and speedier than a bullet?
What the movie lacks due to trashy scenes, over-the top dialogue, and tasteless directing done by Patrick Lussier, it makes up in the plot and shiny cars whose drivers are intent on destroying them. This movie brings back everything audiences love about movies with cars exploding and guns blazing. And not “Fast and Furious,” but rather those ’80s/early ’90s action flicks that makes watching movies so fun.
So, yes, maybe this movie won’t win any awards, and sure, it has unnecessary nudity with a hint of bland humor, but things blowing up and falling is always fun to watch. And, man does this movie have a tremendous amount of both.
