Drive Angry (2011)

This movie really is the perfect break from Oscar season.  After the real-life trauma of American Sniper, I really needed some good, old-fashioned brain candy.  You'll note in the forthcoming few posts that I have continued to do this as the Oscar nominees seem determined this year in particular to destroy me.  So there will be an Oscar nominated film, and then something suitably fluffy and innocuous.

This is now the second time I have seen Drive Angry and I fully expected to come to my senses.  Surely, it couldn't have been as entertaining as I obviously originally found it.  I was wrong.  It's still ridiculous fun.  Still ridiculously, gratuitously violent.  And William Fichtner is still a joy to behold.  Oh hell yes, I bought this.  On blu-ray even.  What?  Christy doesn't have a patent on owning stupid films.   Originally published:  26 Feb 11    Warning:  Kind of spoilery

So this one isn't going to be nominated for an Oscar any time soon, but even cinephiles like myself need a break.  I will say that it was better than I expected it to be, especially given that it stars Nic Cage (and his hair).

I really expected it to be a crapfest like Ghost Rider but it was surprisingly more so-bad-it's-good than so-bad-I-want-to-destroy-something-beautiful.  I think that's due to the tongue-in-cheek humor of the whole thing, down to the title being from Groundhog Day.  Also, they don't beat you over the head with supernatural effects.  It's handled very quietly, which makes it much more effective.  Although it does seem to borrow heavily from the first season of Supernatural.

The plot of the movie is fairly simple.  John Milton (Cage) is chasing after a cult leader who killed his daughter and plans to sacrifice her baby to Satan in order to bring about Hell on Earth.  He runs into Piper (Amber Heard) who has a sweet ride and a propensity for violence and drags her along.  Milton has a secret which causes him to be pursued by The Accountant (William Fitchner).

The Accountant is easily the most badass character of the movie and will be the main reason I will end up buying this POS.  Plus, I love a good revenant movie.

Side note:  I thought that towards the end, they really beat you over the head with his true nature but maybe that's because I tend to be interested in vengeful spirits.  The girl next to me didn't seem to be burdened with knowledge on the subject so maybe the heavy hand is necessary.

At its heart, this is a movie about cars, supernatural things aside.  There's a '69 Dodge Charger, which even I recognize as being from Vanishing Point, and a host of other beauties.  I don't know shit about cars but I can recognize them in an aesthetic sense and these are beautiful machines.  So if you like cars, naked chicks, lots of violence and you don't mind that the lead performances are weak, you'll probably at least enjoy this movie.  Wait for the DVD though, since it's not something for which you should pay $15 for a 3D "experience".