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Drive Angry

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard, and William Fichtner
Directed by: Patrick Lussier
Screenplay by: Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer

    So how does one break out of hell?  Ask Nicolas Cage.  He knows how to because he's done it in "Drive Angry".
    John Milton's (Nicolas Cage) daughter has been killed by a cult and his grandaughter is about to be sacrificed by the same cult.  So what does he do?  He returns to the living after being shot to death much earlier in order to get his revenge.  Along the way, he encounters a few things that may help him or hurt him in his quest for vengeance, such as meeting a beautiful woman, Piper, (Amber Heard) and The Accountant (William Fichtner).  As Satan's right hand man, he has to get Milton to come back to hell, whether or not Milton has taken revenge against the cult and/ or saved his granddaughter.  Will he save her from the wrath of the cult that wishes to sacrifice her?
    Aside from the story being pretty dumb, there aren't many positive aspects about this film.  There isn't much in the way of good acting at all.  Nicolas Cage delivers a similar performance to many other films he's done in which he doesn't look totally concerned about the end of the world or something cataclysmic like that.  When he's not concerned about something, he delivers a poor performance.  This is the case in "Drive Angry" because the world isn't ending in some majorly disastrous way.  Although he's concerned about his granddaughter's safety in the hands of the cult, it's not enough concern for him to deliver a better performance.  My favorite character is The Accountant, the Devil's right hand man.  He's the guy who can literally be anyone he wants to be, for example, an FBI agent.  It's actually fun to see his performance because he seems so out of place in whatever role he poses as, especially as the FBI agent.
     Another negative about the movie is the special effects.  I don't like the 3D aspect of it.  There are only a few instances where 3D is pretty cool, but that's just in those five seconds out of a one hour and forty four minute film.  Just the parts where things fly out at the audience are cool in 3D.  It seems that "Drive Angry" tries to be the 3D film that was popular when having things pop out at the audience was actually cool.  Many of the explosions seem too large for an unabridged car explosion.  Usually I like explosions, even huge ones, but they are too big in "Drive Angry" to seem like natural explosions that don't have any help from Hollywood.
    In the end, this badass popcorn flick isn't worth seeing.  It's Nicolas Cage at his usual, poor acting.  There's nothing in the film that stands out to me.  My final verdict: Skip it.
No star.

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