CON: Let's get this out of the way early - it stars Mr. Bangkok Ghost Wicker Man himself, Nic Cage.PRO: I can't speak for Ghost Rider or Bangkok Dangerous, but The Wicker Man (and Bad Lieutenant, from what I hear) is hilarious, thanks largely in part to Nic Cage. When he goes really, really bad, that's good for us.
CON: The director and writer for this each have virtually nothing but (I'm assuming) awful horror movies on their resumes, shit like White Noise 2 and Jason X and Dracula 2000.
PRO: William Fichtner, aka one of the greatest character actors ever, co-stars.
UNDECIDED: The trailer and plot summaries for this film are wildly confusing and/or divergent. Watch the trailer and you can (possibly) surmise that some shit happened to Cage's character (or family) and that he's out for revenge. Like that Faster movie starring Dwayne Johnson. Read the plot summary, involving the devil and Cage's character escaping hell or something, and you might suffer from Ghost Rider night terrors.
CON: It looks fucking terrible.
PRO: Amber Heard co-stars. I've seen Heard in The Joneses, Zombieland, and Pineapple Express, to name a few. She's attractive...
CON: ...but apparently either charisma-free or not attractive enough or too attractive. I'm really not sure - all I know is that she's wildly unmemorable, since I've even seen her naked (in The Joneses) and still had to look her up to jog my brain as to who she was.
PRO: Fichtner's character name is "The Accountant," which means he must be the (or a) bad guy. This is music to my ears.
CON: Cage's character's name is "Milton." Ugh. Didn't we cover the obviousness of a character named Milton in a film about hell/the devil in The Devil's Advocate?
PRO: David Morse co-stars. 'Nuff said.
CON: It's a live-action film being released in 3D. 'Cause those are always good.
Minor, minor PRO: Pruitt Taylor-Vince co-stars. He's a decent character actor with a kick ass lazy eye.
That's all I got. The final tally?
* 5.25 PRO
* 6 CON
* 1 UNDECIDED
A video viewing it shall be!
18 people have chosen wisely: on "Drive Angry: To See or Not To See?"
There's no way the Bad Lieutenant "remake" should be mentioned in connection with a movie like this. Herzog's film is a loony masterpiece, goofy and crazy as hell, sure, but also a genuinely good film with a lot going on besides Cage's nutty performance.
Drive Angry just looks horrible. My wife and I get a good chuckle every time we see the trailer and get to hear Amber Heard saying "Imma kill you!"
Would watch this movie for one reason and one reason only. Amber Heard is in it, I'd never even heard of her until she was on Top Gear last week.
Even though I'm a massive Nic Cage fan, I'll probably never see this one...
Maybe if it's hilariously bad I might see it but if it's just plain terrible I'll avoid.
I won't see it at the Cinema anyway, I've decided not to pay for 3D anymore ever since I paid for Tron Legacy and then saw a film that was practically 2D...
Seeing Pruitt Taylor-Vince would be music to my ears - he doesn't have a wide range, but he is great at what he does (still love him from Identity).
I won't be watching this though (barring rave reviews or cheap dvd). It looks to me like it's trying to be one of those campy 'so bad they're good' films and unless you're doing a spoof (Black Dynamite/Machete) it seldom works.
Oh, and on the Amber Heard note: I saw her naked throughout all of The Informers - pretty much all she does in that movie. She's beautiful, don't get me wrong, but that movie made me want to walk into a wall for hours on end.
Ed - That's a fair point - trust me, though, I don't consider Bad Lieutenant to be a 'so bad it's good' movie, I was just giving Cage the credit for the looniness you spoke of, and in that regard compared it to Wicker Man.
Marty - Cross-promotion advertising effectiveness in action! ;) Heard is certainly a draw...
Jack - Something tells me you're gonna change your mind. I get the feeling this will either fall into either hilariously bad or, at best, overblown and overly serious. Either way, I'd expect it to actually be enjoyable on some level.
Oh, and I'm no fan of 3D, either, and also didn't notice it all that much in TRON (though I don't regret it), but at least Drive Angry was shot in 3D and not retrofitted...minor props for that.
Univarn - I don't see it being a parody. I think it will probably take itself too seriously, but like Wicker, that may be enough to make it worth our time.
Hmmm...so do I want to see The Informers or not? I suppose Google Image Search and avoidance are probably the best tactics to employ.
I will skip this although I might give it a shot on Netflix if it's not so bad. Amber Heard is hot but sadly, not much of an actress.
I have zero desire to drop $10 on seeing this.
That part of the trailer where Amber Heard says, "I'm gonna mess you up" is enough for me to pass.
Sounds like a cool premise, but that goes out the window once you cast Nic Cage. Sorry.
Fichtner. Fichtner kicking ass and wearing an expensive suit. I'm all over this.
Haha! Brilliant pro/con list. If any theater near me showed the flick in standard 2D, I'd be all over this cos it looks quite entertaining (and can't pass up Fichtner in all his awesomeness).
Had no idea Cage's character is "Milton". That's just..that's just..lazy screenwriting. But then again I'm talking about DRIVE ANGRY. At the very, very little tiniest hint of positivity: it looks beter than BANGKOK DANGEROUS!
Well at least the poster isn't as atrocious as Bangkok Dangerous, but still, this is a skip for me on all counts.
I've just seen Amber Heard for the first time in The Joneses, and I can see why she continues to get hired (hint: NOT for her acting)
Castor - Indeed, this has Netflix written all over it...though we might just have to 'cover' it for an upcoming LAMBcast.
Rachel - Oh, but the casting of Cage is what brings the fun to the movie (if there's any to be had)! I hear ya, though, and certainly can't blame you.
Anon - Fichtner rules.
Andy - Haha...but Bang Dang looked so good!! ;)
I'd watch that one, but it doesn't even look like the slightest bit of fun.
rtm - ...and yea, that Bang Dang poster is an all-time head-scratcher. I love the invisible gun.
From what little I recall, she was okay in The Joneses. She certainly didn't take anything off the table...she just didn't add much to it, either.
I thought Amber's kind of annoying in The Joneses for me, could've been a more interesting role if someone else had played it. LOVE Duchovny though, his dry wit is always so watchable.
@ Ruth: The Joneses almost made it all the way to the top of my Netflix queue. For its insolence, I shoved it back all the way down to the 20's.
Most of the things you list as cons just give me more reasons to see this. I'm sure it'll be crap, but with any luck it'll be ridiculously entertaining crap.
Meanwhile, get on to Port of Call: New Orleans ASAP!
It's been so long since I've gone to the theatre I'll probably see it regardless.
Nice list of Pros / Cons (am going to link over to it from our Darkmatters review) - we gave DRIVE ANGRY 3D 5 stars out of 5 for sheer balls out OTT action violence the likes of which have not been seen in cinemas for many a year!
Actually - do you guys link swap? Happy to do that.
keep up the good work!
We heterosexual males can stop dreaming about Amber Heard, at least in the same way ... I understand she's a lesbian. Then again, that could be a different kind of fantasy.
Ruth - RE Duchovny - true that. Duchovny's dry wit is always appreciated. I should really catch up on Californication, come to think of it...
Tom - RE Port of Call...tell me about it. Fear not, though, it's on the "films to see in 2011" list, so I WILL get to it sooner or later.
Fitz - So you're saying that Drive Angry will be your first theatrical trip of 2011? I don't know if I'd admit to that...
Matt - Ya, I dug your enthusiasm for Drive Angry, even if I end up hating it.
Indeed - I'd be happy to swap with ya. Did you see that you're the current site to be "Mobbed" over at the LAMB's Facebook page?
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