Drive Angry - DVD

Film: With the devil Nicholas Cage has his experience at least since Ghost Rider. Now, under the direction of My Bloody Valentine director Patrick Lussier, he has to pull off another cinematic hell ride. And it's a lot of fun, despite the fairly low level of cleverness in the story.

Cage stars in Drive Angry as fugitive criminal John Milton, who is on a bloody quest for revenge. Together with attractive waitress Piper (Amber Heard), who actually just happens to have crossed his path, Milton hunts down cult preacher Jonah King (Billy Burke), who killed Milton's daughter and now plans to sacrifice his granddaughter at the next full moon. Milton wants to prevent this with all his might. But not only that the unequal duo through the bloody trail that Milton and the powerful Piper leave behind, the police are constantly breathing down their necks. The mysterious accountant (William Fichtner) is also on their heels. And not without reason, because Milton has escaped not from any prison, but from hell and should also return there immediately. But of course Milton won't be stopped that easily from his quest for revenge.

Brain off and buckle up: Drive Angry is a pure fun movie. Pretensions and moral sensibilities should just take a break here. For Lussier has wrought a murderously entertaining slaughter platter that works very well as an homage to the action films of the 70s on the one hand, but also as a bloody horror film. In doing so, Lussier doesn't seem to want to compromise. Just like in My Bloody Valentine, in his latest work, which obviously has a much higher budget, various body parts fly directly at the viewer (which admittedly results in a better effect in the 3D version), the optical advantages of some of the actresses are always on display unveiled and the dialogues are rarely something for delicate ears. But since the whole thing is presented in such an exaggerated way, you never get the idea to take the whole thing seriously or even to be bothered by the quite questionable morals of the story.

The action fun shot in 3D uses the three-dimensional visuals admittedly very well and therefore this is then in many scenes also the focus. But Lussier also put a lot of emphasis on making sure that the characters and the action of it aren't pushed too far into the background, so the film still works well in 2D. And that's a good thing, because after all, the oft-maligned Nicholas Cage is cooler here than he's been in a long time, even if he's really just embodying another variation of the numerous action characters he's already brought to the screen in recent years, sometimes more, sometimes less successfully. Amber Heard, on the other hand, seems to be just an attractive accessory at first glance, but proves after only a few minutes that she is no less cool and, above all, assertive, which significantly increases the fun factor of this on-screen duo. Piper is just not the fragile princess in distress, but an exceedingly strong young woman who really doesn't take any shit.

However, as good as the two leads are, the secret star of the film is William Fichtner. Known from the TV series Prison Break and quite a few supporting roles in blockbusters like Armageddon or The Tempest, the mime delivers a wonderfully sadistic and humorous performance as the hellish accountant, combining stiff bureaucracy and murderous killer instinct in the most original way. Fichtner's performances alone are worth every penny of the DVD.

Admittedly, the story of Drive Angry certainly won't win any awards for its originality or logical substance. But for a film that so blatantly just wants to be fun and allows genre fans to be entertained in the best possible way for over 100 minutes of mindless fun, a rather thin story can be happily forgiven. Who has a problem with blood, exploding cars, flying body parts and naked women, should avoid this film in any case. But for whom all these are arguments for an entertaining DVD evening, this is the movie for you! Absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: Admittedly, the picture looks in the 2D version sometimes a little flat, the contrasts are here and there badly exaggerated and the detail sharpness leaves much to be desired in some scenes. Overall, however, despite these weaknesses, a quite positive visual impression remains. The sound, on the other hand, is just right, with a number of loud sound effects providing a decent dynamic to the action. Good!

Extras: The unused scenes, the only bonus on the DVD, are unfortunately almost over as soon as you have selected them. Just over a minute of footage not really missing from the film is here. Who wants more, must reach for the Blu-Ray, whereby the view behind the scenes, which is offered there, is also not really stunning turned out.

Conclusion: Drive Angry is unrestrained fun cinema, horror action trash of the whimsical variety. Not a highbrow film, but if you're just looking for mindless fun of the gory variety, you'll be well served here. The DVD suffers a little from the flat 2D look and has only meager extras to offer. Recommendable is the disc nevertheless!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp