Some films do as the title suggests or give a good indication as what to expect but Drive Angry fails to deliver. Even with a budget of $50 million, every scene with cars sees them driving at moderately fast speeds but never reaches the insanity of Bad Boys 2 or The Rock. Although after all this time, I think I should know what to expect from Nicolas Cage today.
Whether or not the actor is out of his financial troubles or not, the films keep on coming and while Drive Angry is not his worst one to date, it is by no means his best. He does give a fairly decent performance as John Milton, a man who escaped from hell to save his granddaughter but lacks any energy. In Season of the Witch he plays a soldier drained by endless war and here again he looks tired and beaten. This can work sometimes but we never feel any sympathy for him really because the film never tries. It doesn't help that the villain is no more than a crazed country lunatic in charge of a cult.
What makes the film entertaining is William Fichtner who always gives a solid performance at the very least. Here is steals the entire film when he is on screen as The Accountant. Amber Heard pales in comparison to Fichtner but still does a good job even with a weak script and will undoubtedly move on to greater things in the future.
The action itself is fun but never really escalates. The way the film is clearly shot for 3D makes the action entertaining but since Cage's character is shot repeatedly and never dies takes something away from the film. There are also a few CGI moments that fail to impress, particularly one towards the end.
As a film not to be taken seriously, its OK and passes as an entertaining action film while watching it but in retrospect, the film lacks any substance or reason to care for what is going on. For a film that is meant to be about the driving but instead the characters stop at the sight of a roadblock and cannot deliver on one decent car chase, that should probably tell you enough.
Whether or not the actor is out of his financial troubles or not, the films keep on coming and while Drive Angry is not his worst one to date, it is by no means his best. He does give a fairly decent performance as John Milton, a man who escaped from hell to save his granddaughter but lacks any energy. In Season of the Witch he plays a soldier drained by endless war and here again he looks tired and beaten. This can work sometimes but we never feel any sympathy for him really because the film never tries. It doesn't help that the villain is no more than a crazed country lunatic in charge of a cult.
What makes the film entertaining is William Fichtner who always gives a solid performance at the very least. Here is steals the entire film when he is on screen as The Accountant. Amber Heard pales in comparison to Fichtner but still does a good job even with a weak script and will undoubtedly move on to greater things in the future.
The action itself is fun but never really escalates. The way the film is clearly shot for 3D makes the action entertaining but since Cage's character is shot repeatedly and never dies takes something away from the film. There are also a few CGI moments that fail to impress, particularly one towards the end.
As a film not to be taken seriously, its OK and passes as an entertaining action film while watching it but in retrospect, the film lacks any substance or reason to care for what is going on. For a film that is meant to be about the driving but instead the characters stop at the sight of a roadblock and cannot deliver on one decent car chase, that should probably tell you enough.