“Since the birth of time humanity has endeavored to restrain evil men in prisons. But since Cain fled the murder of his brother, evil men have fled the walls of punishment. So it doesn’t matter if you’re a badass motherfucker on the run because you think you’re better than everyone else and somehow entitled to do what you got to do. No… because you see, badass motherfuckers are never fast enough. In the end they will all be accounted for”. These are the opening lines for the film Drive Angry.
The film begins with John Milton (Nicholas Cage) busting out of prison gates in a 1964 Buick Rivera. What we don’t notice right away is that Milton is escaping from the ultimate prison; Hell. Milton has escaped from his imprisonment to set out on a mission of revenge and is after the man who killed his daughter and kidnapped his granddaughter, Jonah King (Billy Burke). Milton begins his quest for vengeance in the town of Laughter, Colorado and conducts his manhunt clear to Stillwater, Louisiana. Along his way, Milton meets up with a lost soul Piper (Amber Heard), looking to be set on the right path. On Milton’s trail is The Accountant (William Fichtner), who does everything he can to stop Milton and to take him back to Hell. Milton is for the most part a lone man on a mission. Since he is pretty much an escaped soul reborn; he cannot be killed by normal weapons, making him nearly unstoppable in his quest. This film is one part The Crow and one part Smokey and the Bandit for its car chases, and back from the grave protagonist.
Religion plays a huge role in this film. I’m glad to see a movie that can entertain us with different takes on aspects of region and not get everyone up in arms. Milton plays the role of the sheep that has lost his way, trying to make up for all the mistakes he had made in life by doing everything he can to save his granddaughter. In a conversation between Piper and The Accountant, The Account shares his experience with dealing with the misconceptions of the devil by telling her “The dark lord, Satan, Beelzebub, Lucifer; Simply the warden of a very large prison…quiet man actually quite thoughtful and very well read. And I happen to know that the idea of sacrificing children in his honor annoys him greatly”. The Account is a take on the Greek gatekeeper Charon, who would ferry souls to Hades. The name of Cage’s character John Milton is the name of the author of Paradise Lost, the story about Satan’s expulsion from Heaven.
This film has some of the best car stunts since Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof. Every car that Milton Drives is a mean sounding muscle car or a classic show car of some sort. This is great because it makes sense that his character would only be interested in older cars, being that the last time he was alive it was the early 1980’s. He escapes in the Rivera; He drives Piper’s 1969 Dodge Charger, is given a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle, and winds up with a 1956 Chevrolet Bell Air. A lot of the scenes have a good deal to do with driving, so having an awesome fleet of cars in the film helps keep my attention.
The film overall is something different. It is a fresh idea that was unleashed on a crowd who had been conditioned for remakes and the same old garbage. This film takes a good deal of risks and I think they pay off. For instance, showing a gunfight during a sex scene is something that hasn’t been touched since Shoot ‘Em Up. I enjoy Cage’s performance as Milton mainly because he plays Milton like a dead man. He is often keeping to himself, calm, and lets his guns do the talking. It’s a different Cage than the crazed one that screams out outrageous statements like “I’m Castor Troy”. Meanwhile, it is almost everyone else’s performances that are over the top. Burke’s portrayal of Johan King is really enthralling. He plays the antagonist character as if Elvis and Neil Diamond had a son that was the leader of a satanic cult. Fichtner’s role as The Accountant is also pretty overblown in a good way. In one scene he walks out of a hydrogen tanker truck right before it collides with a road block as its stereo is blaring That’s The Way I Like It by K.C. and the Sunshine Band, and steps onto the roof of a cop car as a giant explosion engulfs the area.
How could nobody have seen or liked this movie? Rodger Ebert gave it one of the few reviews that weren’t total crap (two stars). Rotten Tomatoes.com has it at 45%, which is better than The Blindside at least. The film was budgeted for around$ 50,000,000 but only made around $10,000,000 worldwide. To see something that has something neat, fun and original just to be pandered by critics and audiences in favor of another Big Mama movie pisses me off to no end. I would easily put this film into my top ten movies of 2011, hopefully you will give it a viewing and enjoy it as much as a did as well.
