Drive Angry
Posted on February 24, 2011 at 7:22 pm
The movie is called “Drive Angry.” It stars Nicolas Cage. It’s in 3D.
What more do you need to know?
Cage is such a fan of comic books he took his screen name from a comic book superhero and starred as “Ghost Rider.” Cage and co-writer/director Patrick Lussier have brought a stylish and mythic comic book sensibility to this story about a man determined to kill cult members who murdered his daughter and plan to kill her baby.
Cage plays John Milton (I did say mythic), a mysterious loner, who hitches a ride with Piper (Amber Heard, as terrific here as she was in “The Jones”), a waitress who just dumped her fiance and took his Dodge Charger, the one with the license plate that says DRV ANGRY. They go after Jonah King (Billy Burke, looking like a cross between Jim Jones and the Pick-Up Artist) and his Satan-worshiping followers, who are preparing to sacrifice Milton’s granddaughter under the full moon. And they are chased by cops following up on the trail of dead bodies they leave wherever they go and by a man in a suit who calls himself “the accountant” (William Fitchner, like a civilized Terminator with the nose of a bloodhound and the demeanor of an elegant viper). There’s a series of dust-ups and then the final confrontation/conflagration.
This is the kind of movie they used to show in drive-ins and clearly everyone in it is having a blast. It’s nicely twisted and even a little fierce, willing to take on some big questions that provide as much fuel for the story as the cars and carnage. The movie’s highlight is Fitchner, who can sniff the air or toss a coin with as much on-screen power as all the chases and shoot-outs.
LOVED Amber Heard in this (and pretty much everything).
Let’s also give a shout-out to Katy Mixon, who is great in everything. She needs a lead role in the worst way!
Not to be too technical, but “Death Proof” is the Kurt Russell film you are referring to. “Grindhouse” was the title when both “Death Proof” and “Planet Terror” were released together in theaters.
You are so right, Dustin! I love both Amber Heard and Katy Mixon, two smart, sexy, funny, and all-around great actresses.
Thanks, Stymie — since “Death Proof” with Russell was a part of “Grindhouse” and I was recommending the entire film with both parts but emphasizing the second, I thought it was best to put it that way. But I can see how it was confusing!
Dear Nell,
I’m just a bit curious as to why you would give such a violent and profanity-laden film a B. I’d hate to see a C or D.
My husband and I had an experience seeing a movie shown at a church movie night which had multiple blasphemies in it. Needless to say, we were shocked and left that church. By the way, that movie we saw was rated PG-13 but there was no information about the movie provided by the church beforehand (rating, content, storyline, etc.). Thank you for giving these heads-ups about these current films.
Dear Linda — thanks so much for your thoughtful comment. The grade I assign to films is about one thing only: how well the film meets the expectations of its intended audience. It is not about its appropriateness for anyone outside that group. The information I provide in the bullet points at the top of the review and the parental advisory at the end of the review is there to help readers decide whether they fit that intended audience. As you saw from the review, this movie, with its intense and very explicit violence, sex, and language, is not intended for people who prefer to avoid that material. But those who do enjoy this kind of entertainment will find that it is not only made with some artistic flourish, but that it tells a story of redemptive action and a fight against evil that has some moral validity as well as entertainment value.
Every family is different; every family has to make its own choices about the entertainment it sees. Instead of trying to impose one standard on everyone, I try to provide the information they need in order to make decisions that suit their standards. If you ever have a question about the content of a movie and do not find the answer on the site, I hope you will email me at moviemom@moviemom.com and I will do my best to answer.