Title: Drive Angry
Director: Patrick Lussier
Writers: Todd Farmer, Patrick Lussier
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard, William Fichtner
Cert: 18
Time: 104 min
All Hell breaks loose on DVD and Blu-ray 4th July 2011
Literally a road-trip movie from Hell! NICOLAS CAGE careens out of the underworld to wreak revenge in DRIVE ANGRY - Available to own on DVD or a Double-Play Blu-ray & DVD set from the 4th July. A tongue-in-cheek and hugely enjoyable action blast, full of smoking-hot cars and drop-dead gorgeous women, with Cage on top form.
A vengeful father escapes from hell and chases after the men who killed his daughter and kidnapped his granddaughter.
Anyone that has ever read a review that I have written about a Nicolas Cage film knows that I love this particular actor. The Oscar winning star of films such as Wild At Heart, Leaving Las Vegas and Adaptation, Cage has always been, in my opinion, an actor that is willing to be different and to really put his heart and soul into his performances on screen.
Yet recent reports of his financial difficulty (tax problems) has lead to speculation that Cage is doing a lot of new work in order to increase his income and sort out his problems. Whether or not this is true is debateable but he has been working a lot recently, having said that I do not think that he has chosen bad roles just for money. Not a bit of it. I believe that Cage chooses roles because they are different and interesting to him. Unlike actors that always seem to play a version of themselves – Adam Sandler, Jennifer Anniston, Ben Stiller – Cage has been all sorts of characters throughout his career. For instance think of Ghost Rider – he was a bounty hunter for the devil, Matchstick Men - he was a con man with obsessive compulsive disorder, Adaptation - he was a screenwriter with writers block and he also played his own fictional twin brother in the same film, City of Angels - he was an angel. I think it’s fair to say that Cage has had a varied career. He has always been daring and fearless in his choice of roles and has taken on characters across a broad spectrum, as well as appearing in very different films. I believe that he always commits 100% to his performances.
Cage is John Milton an ex-convict, escaped from hell to take vengeance on the men who killed his daughter and took his grand daughter hostage in a bid to sacrifice her in some mystical ritual. Milton picks up the trail of the kidnappers and also picks up a young woman – a waitress called Piper who was being attacked by her dumb, brutish, cheating boyfriend. However someone is chasing Milton as well, a man in a suit, with an FBI badge who calls himself the Accountant. Will Milton catch the satanic mob before the Accountant catches him?
Drive Angry is the sort of film that is just about right, but it’s not quite there, something just feels slightly off-target. It’s not perfect. It’s fun, but Cage has certainly done better, but at least for a film that is supposed to be fairly adult in nature Drive Angry retains a decent amount of violence and adult themes and I liked it for that reason alone.
But is it trying too hard to be both violent and funny? Is it a tongue-in-cheek exploitation movie or it is something else entirely? There are cheap pay-off lines sort of like an 80s action movie but then there is sleek direction and a decent script for most of the film. I’m finding it hard to categorise the film. Is it a multi-million dollar 3D movie or is it trying to be a B-movie? I’m confused. Is it the sort of visceral grindhouse film that Machete was? Is it taking its cues from Planet Terror or Death Proof? It certainly feels like it at times, but then the tone changes to pop-corn movie all of a sudden. There is action and a bit of gore, but there are laughs and moments of tongue-in-cheek-humour.
As for the performances Cage, never afraid to make himself look ugly, or take on character traits that other actors might not like the idea of, spends a chunk of the film with only one eye and he’s hardly a hero. So Cage puts in a good performance and so does Amber Heard but I’ll be totally honest, William Fichtner steals the scenes that he appears in. Fichtner might be the sort of face you know, but you don’t know his name filmstar, but maybe after this you’ll start to see him more often. He might be about to hit some bigger lead roles.
To sum up. Drive Angry isn’t the best film to ever star Nicolas Cage in a lead role, but for those that follow his career, you’ll be pleased to know that it’s better than Ghost Rider and it’s certainly better than Season of the Witch.
Special Features
Audio Commentary with Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer
Milton's Mayhem
How To Drive Angry
Deleted Scenes (audio commentary optional)
BD technical details: (BD is available as a double play pack with DVD disc included)
Cert: 18
Audio: DTS Digital Surround 5.1
Aspect ratio: HD 1.78:1
Run time 104 Minutes Approx.
Languages: English
Subtitles: English for the Hearing Impaired
RRP: £24.99
Special Features on BD include all those available on the DVD, plus ‘Access Drive Angry’
n.b. Blu-ray feature will play as 3-D on players with 3-D capability.
