Sunday, February 27, 2011

Drive Angry

(Thanks to everyone for all the warm wishes. I'm better now save some cuts and bruises. If I missed a few comments when I was out please forgive me. I'll be catching up as I can.

I figured with all the Oscar coverage going around some good dirty disreputable fun was in order. If you are for some unfathomable reason interested in who I'd like to see take home the gold tonight check it out here.)


Drive Angry begins with a shot of a muscle car driving out of hell. It ends with a shot of Nicholas Cage drinking Simpler Times, (a beer that costs 2.99 for a six pack, is seven percent alcohol and contains turpentine) out of the skull of a vanquished enemy. That’s all you need to know.

Brimming with Bad Taste and Cheap Thrills Drive Angry is everything you’d ever want in a B-Movie and I mean that literally. There is gore, mayhem, nudity, muscle cars, and Tom Atkins. And Brother if that’s not a recipe for a good weekend in Vegas I don’t know what is.

Drive Angry starts its mission of mayhem with Nicholas Cage killing a carful of hillbillies with a shotgun. The first of many. It turns out that these are no ordinary unpleasant crackers, but are indeed Satanists. What comes next is a reverse Race With The Devil (and in a sequence built around a chase with a Winnebego a nice homage is paid to it’s fore father) with Cage as hellhound on their trail. Cage at this point has reached a kind of sereneness when he sails over the top in these movies. Like an Olympic Pole Vaulter clearing an ant hill. He has a sex gunfight that puts the sex gunfight in Last Man Standing to shame. And he never so much as raises an eyebrow during it.

He picks up Amber Heard on the way, who I can’t say I’m familiar with, knowing her only as the lead of John Carpenter’s upcoming The Ward. All I can say is that if Carpenter turns her into anything less then a female Snake Plissken in that thing I’ll feel an opportunity has been lost. Heard may look like a Maxim Covergirl, but there’s none of the dead eyed vacancy you get with that type. She has real spirit and a sense of fun and the best thing I can say about her performance is that I look forward to seeing her again in a movie, and not for the reasons that the casting directors so obviously hope for.

Rounding out the cast (excluding Tom Atkins in the Michael Parks role, who in his two scene cameo has more fun then he’s had for years up on the big screen) is William Fichtner, at this point all but possessed by the premature ghost of Christopher Walken. He’s The Accountant, the demon tasked with bringing Cage back to hell and he gets all the best lines (“This is a symbol of our pact with Satan.” “Pact? Really? Funny he’s never mentioned you.”) It’s all in the way Fichtner plays it as perpetually amused, never more then slightly put out no matter how vast the chaos around him is.

I say chaos both with admiring approval and without hyperbole. So hat’s off to Patrick Lussier who orchestrated this madness. Others enjoyed his My Bloody Valentine. I rank it among the worst horror films I’ve ever seen. Drive Angry is exactly the trashy thrill ride that last film was supposed to be. I eagerly await whatever comes next.

It’s an exercise in the outer limits of Bad Taste. It’s filled from end to end with mayhem. It’s more of a sequel to Grindhouse then Machete was. And it left me with a big sloppy grin on my face from the first shot to the last. I doubt I will have more fun at a theater this year. I cannot recommend that you see this highly enough.

13 comments:

Neil Fulwood said...

After reading the UK mainstream critics get all hoity-toity about this one, it's come as a relief to drive positive reviews by yourself and Stacie at Final Girl.

I am now officially stoked for this movie!

Bryce Wilson said...

Glad to hear it Neil I think you'll have a blast.

After all what's a good B Movie without a few popped monocles

Charles said...

looks cool I might see this

Lazarus Lupin said...

It's obviously too much for most viewers it only got 9 on the box office.

Lazarus Lupin

The Goodkind said...

As skeptical as I am about anything in the theaters these days, your piece may have convinced me. I trust that your noticeable lack of fashionable Nick Cage bashing bodes well.

Bryce Wilson said...

@ Charles: Hope You Will.

@ Lazarus: All the more ripe for a cult following!

@ The Goodkind: Well I do hope you'll enjoy the film. As for Cage I've quite liked him in his last few performances. Bad Lieutenant was fun but I still maintain that his performance in Kickass was much closer to the classic Cage performances (ala Raising Arizona) that made me like him so much in the first place.

Say what you will about him, but Cage always knows exactly what he's doing.

le0pard13 said...

I tried to get to this over the weekend, but plans didn't work out. Now with your wonderful look at this, I'm re-grouping to see it after work tomorrow. Thanks, Bryce.

Darren said...

Okay. Now to try to emotionally blackmail the better half...

Budd said...

this seems hopeful. I am not a cage fan, but this looks like it lines up with the only kind of character he can play, crazy. He did surprise me in Kick Ass. I will likely catch it on DVD.

Bryce Wilson said...

@le0pard: Looking forward to the review!

@Darren: Here's hoping she's a good sport ; )

@ Budd: Yeah the 3D's just a gimmick. Prepare for Cheese and it'll be a fun time.

le0pard13 said...

I really enjoyed the hell out of this one. Between the language, gratuitous violence/nudity/sex, and live action car stunts, it made my day. So much so, I could only groan at the occasional bad CGI that showed up. I had appreciate, too, the nice use of the old muscle cars. Have you noticed the deployment of the grand old Chevelle SS in productions of late? I noted the SS in this film and FASTER, and even this week's episode of FX's JUSTIFIED. I used to own a Chev Malibu years ago so when its SS cousin makes an appearance, it catches my eye. Thanks, Bryce.

Bryce Wilson said...

Glad you enjoyed it le0pard13. I always get nervous when people put their money where my mouth is. So I'm glad you liked it.

Biba Pickles said...

Let's start a Nicolas Cage cult.