Drive Angry

Comments (0) By Nick Pinkerton Thursday, Feb 24 2011

DRIVE ANGRY Genre-unto-himself Nicolas Cage's latest displays much the same tattoo-parlor hellfire imagery as Ghost Rider, but this is the hard-R version, with Johnny Blaze's jellybeans from a goblet in the earlier film now replaced by a cold after-work beer drunk from a human skull. Cage plays a black-denim God’s Lonely Man, a stranger in town on a sworn mission to ride down the cult fronted by Billy Burke’s glam-messiah, who has absconded with a baby girl. Hellcat hash-slinger Piper (Amber Heard) comes along for the ride, while a mysterious, unflappable fed called "the Accountant" (William Fichtner) brings up the rear. Cage’s avenger is named Milton; this reference to the author of Paradise Lost is the sole hint that Old World culture ever existed in Drive Angry’s convoy of hyperbolized-unto-parody Americana: bad drawls, obese gawkers, roadhouse demonology, coochie-cutter shorts, and engines revving under guitar stomp. As one cannot discuss Battleship Potemkin without mentioning the Odessa Steps, so, too, with Drive Angry and the gonzo porn-ish scene in which a pack of thugs pull a coitus-interruptus ambush on Milton, who remains docked inside his partner while coolly eliminating his attackers. One’s attention has little occasion to flag, though the closing-credits comedown feels like a “Peeing Calvin” decal has watered your brain. (Nick Pinkerton) (Citywide)

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I thought Drive Angry was a bit over the top, but these types of movies have to be over the top for the fans of the movies. Of course not everyone will like it, and judging by the reviews, they didn’t, kind of made me wait and see about the movie, but I rented the DVD last week from Blockbuster, and I was surprised when I watched it. It was absolutely a gore fest. Just the movies I like, graphic, bloody, action packed, and a little on the obnoxious side. Working at DISH I like to surf the website looking for good deals, and since I subscribe to Blockbuster by mail already, this caught my eye, right now new Dish customers are eligible for 3 free months of blockbuster by mail. Check it out at http://goo.gl/wuMrN

 
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