Written in 2D.
In another life Drive Angry could have metformin 500 mg price been the perfect Nicolas Cage movie. It has all the makings, but we’re now living in the Grindhouse era where movies like Planet Terror, Death Proof, Machete, and Piranha 3D among others have altered the standards of what constitutes an acceptable movie. A few of those are in fact good films, but they are also part of a trend that has made it all too easy to get away with sloppy, half-baked filmmaking. This is the problem plaguing Drive Angry. It thinks it belongs in the aforementioned genre, but it doesn’t go far enough and has a script too lazy to amount to anything.
The movie metformin hydrochloride 500 mg pill kicks off with Milton (Nicolas Cage) narrating his escape from Hell via Buick Riviera. He says he was able to do it because he’s a badass, and escaping from Hell is something that badasses can apparently do. In fact, Milton is a man so badass he can’t even be bothered to take his clothes off when he fucks. That’s really all the explanation we’re given or need. He loses the Riviera along the way and ends up at a diner where Piper (Amber “I’m still straight in my movies, guys” Heard) works as a waitress. This is also the day that Piper’s fat boss gropes her one-too-many times and she quits her job. Milton figures Piper is the ideal person to give him a lift after noticing she has a sweet ’69 Charger and a pair of denim short-shorts. Some ex-boyfriend related drama ensues and Piper decides to stick it out with Milton presumably because she has nothing better to do.
Drive Angry is actually off to a pretty good start up to this point. Cage turns in one of his coolest performances in recent memory and his chemistry with Heard is great. I honestly feel Drive Angry would have been much better if it was a simple road trip movie where Milton and Piper drive around to bars and beat up and have sex with people the whole time. Then again, there is the whole plot to consider.
Distracting us from Milton and Piper’s barroom shenanigans are “The Accountant” (William Fichtner), a supernatural bounty hunter for Satan, and Jonah King (Billy Burke) a Satanist cult-leader and the reason Milton is driving so angry. It seems King wants to sacrifice Milton’s baby granddaughter as part of a ritual and that is just not something Milton is going to stand around and allow. The Accountant is tasked with bringing Milton back to Hell, but he never seems to be in much of a hurry.
There’s clearly a lot going on and the script is just not up to the task of handling all of it. There are too many inconsistencies and odds and ends that don’t add up. For instance Milton busts out of Hell to chase after King, but it actually starts off with King chasing Milton even though he already has what he needs and there’s no way he could know Milton is back. Then King takes Piper who he doesn’t need and Milton starts chasing him again. An ongoing source of frustration for me is that the characters often know things they shouldn’t and the audience is usually left in the dark when more information would tie a lot of loose ends together.
The Accountant is equally confounding. His motivations seem clear at first, then he starts flip-flopping on who he’s against and what he wants to do for the last half of the movie. He’s obviously trying to stop Milton so he can drag him back to Hell, but constantly lets him off the hook when he’s within his grasp. His priorities then inexplicably shift to helping Milton stop Jonah King’s ritual from taking place. None of it adds up at all. It’s a shame too, because the Accountant has some awesome character moments where he manipulates and terrorizes random people along the way. He’s one of those smarmy, too cool for school, demon-walking-the-earth characters with one hell of a dry sense of humor; and he could have salvaged some of this movie if he was better executed.
I’m not at all surprised to say this, but the “Shot in 3D” tagline is an absolute joke. It’s not used to good effect at all and I think I stopped even being aware of it after the first five minutes. However, this is not like Avatar where the 3D is so dynamic and vivid that you get lost in the seamlessness of it all. In Drive Angry it just isn’t noticeable period. There are some great practical special effects, but the CG is some of the worst I’ve seen in years. I’m talking Sega Dreamcast quality here.
There is a lot wrong with Drive Angry, though at least it gets the pure entertainment angle right. Plentiful violence, Nick Cage awesomeness, and Amber Heard’s shorts carry all the weight, but this is C-level, typical February release filmmaking at its finest.
Overall: 5/10
Directed by Patrick Lussier. Written by Todd Farmer and Patrick Lussier. Production Design by Nathan Amondson. Cinematography by Brian Pearson. Original Music by Michael Wanmacher. Edited by Devin Lussier and Patrick Lussier.
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard, William Fichtner, and Billy Burke
