I read with interest online that Drive Angry was shot in 3D and was shown in US cinemas in that format. Well, I had to make do with 2D, but still enjoy the movie no end. If you are a fan of B-grade 70's & 80's movies, Drive Angry is right up your alley. It's Grindhouse......with a budget and a decent cast.
Nicholas Cage stars as John Milton, a bad ass that we soon discover has "escaped" from hell to track down his infant granddaughter who has been kidnapped by a satanic cult who plan to sacrifice her. In the process of taking the baby, the cults leader Jonah King [brilliantly played by Billy Burke] murders Miltons daughter and her husband, so our hero has plenty of motivation to get the job done. Also along for the ride is the smokin hot Piper [Amber Heard] who has just quit her job as a waitress and left her cheating boyfriend. So far, this cast and plot in itself is a pretty good movie, but the extra ingredient that makes Drive Angry a great movie in my opinion is William Fichtner as The Accountant.
Background to The Accountant character is simple. Hell is just one big prison, and Satan is the prison warden. When someone escapes, and in this case it's Milton, The Accountant comes after you. Fichtner owns every scene he appears in. If there was a spin off movie where he was the lead, I'd be there with bells on.
What I liked about the movie :
- it was really well paced with very few flat spots.
- A scene, or should I say THE scene, that everyone will be talking about. I think I'll struggle to do it justice in words here, but if you can imagine someone taking out a gang of thugs in a hotel room, while smoking a cigar, taking swigs of Jack Daniels and shagging a blonde waitress at the same time, it happens here.
- Amber Heard is hot hot hot!!!!
- William Fichtner rocks this movie. I'm a Nicholas Cage fan, and he is fine here, but Fichtner is THE MAN.
- very few CGI effects were used in the big scenes like car chases and alike.
What I didn't like about the movie :
- there is a fair few "supernatural themes" involved with the plot and it's characters. People coming back from hell, not being able to be killed, "The Godkiller" gun that destroys souls that was stolen from Satin himself. I suppose it was necessary otherwise the movie wouldn't play out, and it is what it is, but parts of it just didn't quite sit right with me.
- was it just me, or was Jonah King one of the worst shots with a gun in movie history. He couldn't hit the side of a barn from 5 metres away.
These movies that are a throwback to the Grindhouse days of the 70's and 80's are becoming more common. It obviously started with Planet Terror and Death proof, continued on with Machete and Hobo with a Shotgun, and now we have Drive Angry. I'm a fan. I do like them, and Drive Angry is up there with the best of them
The Accountant [William Fichtner]
Jonah King [Billy Burke]
No comments:
Post a Comment