Reviewed by Alicia Glass

Rating: 8 Obolos

After his daughter is killed and his granddaughter kidnapped by Satanic cultists, a vengeful man escapes from Hell to settle the score with everyone!

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this movie, the way I saw it advertised indicated to me a kind of Fast and Furious movie with Nicholas Cage tossed in the proverbial drivers seat. That is far from what you actually get in this movie, and I for one am glad, I happen to be a Nick Cage fan, for the most part. The plot itself is a fairly simple premise, there’s practically no CGI or movie magic stunts anywhere except at the very very end, but I think it’s the incredibly fine actor performances and the pace of the movie that keep it going. Drive Angry had a tendency to remind me of the pace of Crank, which I enjoyed, and the same sense of humor come to think of it, as evidenced by the Sex Shootout scene. The whole thing is SO ridiculous, if there’s ever an outtakes reel for this movie you know it will be in there. You practically expect the whole movie to be on an amped version of “Black Betty” by Spiderbait.

So we start off with strange happenings at, where else, a diner out in the middle of proverbial nowhere. Amber Heard is Piper, a former waitress at this diner who needs a bit of help with her abusive now-ex boyfriend, and ends up giving our heroic Milton (Cage) a ride to his destination. Which now makes her the ass-kicking sidekick on this adventure, and boy, does she – Piper kicks and bites and screams and never gives in. William Fichtner, of such fame as Equilibrium and Ultraviolet, stars as the Accountant who takes a very avid interest in what Milton’s doing, it didn’t take me long to figure out that yes, he’s Death. And for this kind of take on Death, Fichtner does a righteous job. Billy Burke is Jonah King, leader of the Satanic cult and all-around bad bad man.

Unfortunately, I do have to mention, that yes there is the 3D option for this movie. I did not watch it that way, and didn’t see a single thing in either the visuals or the plot that allowed for 3D anywhere in this movie, but then, very few movies qualify for my 3D roster anyway. I suppose it might be cool to see the Obolos coin Death tosses in 3D, but that’s not enough of an excuse. Drive Angry is a fun way to waste a few hours late at night, laughing yourself silly at yet another, “What the hell was that?!” I do however have one last issue, the name. Like another misnamed Cage movie, Season of the Witch, Drive Angry seems to just be something they tacked on there to try and surprise the movie-goers with. If the name doesn’t give away the whole movie, then they’re fine. Nevertheless, Drive Angry gets a highly amused rating of 8 Obolos, and a recommendation for an exploding good time!