Tags:
Film: Drive Angry
Year: 2011
Director: Patrick Lussier
Writer: Todd Farmer and Patrick Lussier
Starring: Nicholas Cage, Amber Heard and William Fichtner
Review:
In this film, we give a quick intro about people escaping from ‘prisons’. We see a bridge over a lake of fire and a car fleeing down it. Soon after we see a car chase where 3 guys in a pick-up truck are fleeing from someone. It turns out the person is Nicholas Cage and he crashes into them. He kills them with his shotgun, but not before getting information out of them about a baby that he is looking for.
Next we meet a waitress in a backwoods diner, played by Amber Heard. We learn that she is tough as nails and convinced her boyfriend to propose by withholding sex. We see that she compassionate though by giving a family with little money food that was going to be thrown away, but right after she resists the advances of her boss with force.
Cage and Heard meet when her car breaks down. He fixes it and then she gives him a ride. Heard finds her fiancé cheating on her, beats up the girl and he begins to beat her up. Cage puts an end to that and knocks him out. They travel on together.
Chasing Cage is a demon that we never learn his real name, but he is played by William Fichtner. He can track him by smell, by asking nicely or by asking with force. No matter which way, he continues on the hunt.
We learn that Cage is chasing after his daughter’s child who has been kidnapped by a crazy cult leader, played by Billy Burke. He is a Satan worshipper and believes he has a found a way to bring hell on Earth, by sacrificing the child. Can Cage with Heard get to him before the sacrifice? Can he outrun Fichtner as well in the process?
To be frank, this film isn’t that good. A problem I encountered was the 3D. I hate 3D first off and there are too many times this film out of nowhere has to have something fly at the screen to go for that effect. I think it is overrated and something that isn’t needed to make a good film. I believe this one relied too heavily on it.
Another thing was I believe the story could have been amazing, but they didn’t take it far enough to develop it. I like the fact and can believe the fact that someone from Hell escaped to save his grandchild from people trying to raise Satan. They make us assume too much without any reasons.
With that said, this film is a mix of horror and action, but doesn’t do enough in either aspect to make it worthy in either. Heard looks amazing, as she usually does and that is a plus. There are a lot of unneeded swearing, f-bombs mostly, that it could have done without. I would avoid this one, unless you want to see some mindless killing that has little story. That’s all it really is good for.
My Rating: 6 out of 10