Drive Angry

Drive Angry

Nicolas Cage, in Ghost Rider mode, steals a car and super gun from Hell.  Yes, you read that right.  The opening shows Nic Cage escape Hell via an American muscle car.  He goes around looking for his baby granddaughter that is in the clutches of a crazy cult.  He wants to hunt them down before Hell’s Accountant catches up with him. 

Have you got all that? 

Yes, the movie is silly and downright stupid.  It is Ghost Rider silly, but 2/3 of this movie is actually entertaining on a purely crazy road-movie sort of way.  And, I know exactly what they were going for in the film.  They were trying to make a Grindhouse movie.  The sheer silliness of the stunts and crazy dark humor shows that to be true.  I could have seen this as a Double Feature with Death Proof. 

However, that all falls apart in the third act.  It feels like the director just threw up his hands and said, “Forget it.”  Everything else in the movie feels like a Grandhouse movie.  It just lost me in the final battle. 

Forget Nicolas Cage, the best character and actor is William Fichtner (Prison Break).  Fichtner plays The Accountant.  The Accountant seems to be the Grim Reaper.  And, his job is to find John Milton and take him back to hell.  Fichtner is channeling Nic Cage and does a better job than the actual Nic Cage.  Fichtner is the main reason to watch this movie. 

The other thing people will be talking about is the scene where Nic Cage is having sex with a waitress and a group of cult henchmen come in to kill him.  He proceeds to kill each henchman while he continues to have sex with the naked waitress.  Yes, this actually happens!  It is stupid and dumb, but I can’t help but give them points for doing something so ballsy (pun intended) that it almost makes sense.  Heck, he’s been in hell for a very long time. 

The movie has some crazy car chases, with some questionable action pieces.   And, they are very exciting, if goofy.  The movie starts to completely lose it in the third act when Cage attacks the cult full on.  It is like we are transported into a damn Crank movie, including a completely naked woman shooting a gun at Cage. 

The movie isn’t as bad as the other Nic Cage movies, but that’s not saying much.  There are a few good car chases and there is a lot “driving angry”.  So, it isn’t that misleading.  Yet, I can’t recommend this movie to everyone.  If nothing else, see the movie for Fichtner.  He’s the best thing about the movie.

Grade: C-

 There is a Duke Boys joke in here somewhere...

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Whoa, wait a minute. he is playing another FBI agent searching for a guy that escaped “prison”.