Plus, the infant-in-danger scenes stray a little too close to the line even for something as outrageous as this. The storyline enters some pretty dark territory as we learn the reason for Milton's vendetta and the sense of fun wanes under the recognition of the underlying brutality. If there's a criticism to be made of Drive Angry, it's that the energy level flags during the final third. (The same cannot be said of his partner.) When it's all over, his only concession to the effort is to take a swig from a bottle. The gunfight that ensues is worth the price of admission, as Milton doesn't pause in the task at hand while removing what he apparently considers to be a minor distraction. Ross is unclothed (and showing everything, unlike in the aforementioned NYPD Blue episode) and riding Milton like a pro when about a dozen heavily armed men enter the room with the goal of eliminating Milton. While Milton tracks King, he is in turn being chased by the mysterious entity known only as The Accountant (a scene-stealing William Fitchner), whose inscrutability in the face of cold-blooded murder is matched only by his dry wit.ĭrive Angry's most memorable scene features Charlotte Ross (whose peek-a-boo nudity in NYPD Blue resulted in one of the most infamous challenges to the FCC's censorship powers). His goal: locate cult leader Jonah King (Billy Burke) and reclaim his infant granddaughter, whom King plans to sacrifice during the next full moon. But there's more going on here than meets the eye, as becomes apparent when he saves a waitress, Piper (Amber Heard), from a beating by her boyfriend and joins her on a road trip to Louisiana. Initially, Milton appears to be some kind of Terminator clone, chasing down bad guys and blowing them away without compunction. In the lead role of "John Milton" (or at least that's what he has chosen to call himself), Nicolas Cage hasn't cleaned up appreciably since the last time he struggled against Satan, last month's Season of the Witch (which would have worked better with a similar over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek approach to the one employed here). It's one of those movies that has to be experienced for what it is. Thinking about Drive Angry is the wrong way to approach the production. Unapologetic about its intentions, the movie uses the framework of a revenge story as a means to dabble in the supernatural and play with themes of Good versus Evil. A combined homage to/parody of '70s exploitation films, Drive Angry shifts into gear and never slows down. The appeal of Drive Angry is much the same as that of Piranha: a willingness to revel in absurdity to the degree where the exhilaration is infectious.
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January 2023
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