Drive Angry (2011)

A joyous ode to 1970s exploitation movies, Drive Angry is a delightful jumble of muscle cars, naked women, and gratuitous violence with precious little plot getting in the way of its story.

That story has Nicolas Cage playing Milton, a damned soul that breaks out of Hell so he can save his infant granddaughter from a satanic cult led by the charismatic Jonah King (Billy Burke).  King intends to sacrifice the child to the devil, so that he can bring about an empowering apocalypse of some sort.

 

Milton does not escape from Hell empty handed, though.  He brings with him a super weapon called the Godkiller, which is a pistol capable of killing anything that exists (be it natural or supernatural) dead to the point of non-existence.  It is good that Milton has this weapon, for he is being chased by the Accountant (the hilariously deadpan William Fichtner) one of Hell's Bounty Hunters, and the Accountant will not stop until he has Milton's escaped soul back where it belongs.

What Milton does not have, however, is wheels.  He gets some wheels from the foul mouthed and take no shit waitress Piper (Amber Heard) when he rescues Piper from her abusive fiance, Frank (screenwriter Todd Farmer, who is making a career out of doing cameos as a buck naked and fornicating sleaze-ball that dies real good).  Once Milton has his wheels, he hits the road and everything and everyone on it that is between himself and his granddaughter.

There is nothing more to the movie than that, but Drive Angry doesn't need anything more.  It has everything that an exploitation movie needs: tons of car chases, car wrecks, fist fights, gun fights, and naked woman (and men, do not forget Todd Farmer's not at all tiny cameo) flashing all over the screen.  The movie even has Tom Atkins in it!

Drive Angry works best when it combines as many of the above listed elements together as it can, such as when a cigar sucking, Jack Daniels guzzling, sunglasses wearing, and sleazy waitress banging Nicolas Cage takes out a whole pack of attacking satanists without bothering to stop any of his cigar sucking, Jack Daniels guzzling, sunglasses wearing, and sleazy waitress banging.  It is truly a classic moment of over-the-top cinema, and Drive Angry is full of them.

It is also filled with knowing references to cult classic "Satanic Cult" movies like The Devil's Rain and, most obviously, Race With The Devil.  But screenwriter Farmer and director/co-screenwriter Patrick Lussier (My Bloody Valentine) put their own personal spin on these references, rather than just recreate them in an ironic way that would confuse the viewer that would not recognize them.  This makes recognizing the in-jokes and references nothing more than a special bonus treat for genre buffs that adds an additional layer of delight to an already delightful genre confection.

Three and a half stars out of four.

Comments

[Tyra Shortino]

I've seen this movie with my father, and it was EXCITING! I couldn't help but be carried away by the story, hehe. I was glad that it had a happy ending. I kind of wish there would be a part 2, though.