Drive Angry

A Panther Joe Payback

Drive Angry 3D (2011)
Director: Patrick Lussier
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard, Billy Burke, William Fichtner

"I'm going to kill you, then I'm going to defile your corpse..."

Wait, wait, a Nicolas Cage movie that Ben hasn't reviewed yet on this site? Shenanigans. It's well documented that Cage is easily Ben's favorite actor, and possibly desired mentor, so I have no idea how this is possible. Unless he's been writing on another site. Sorry...really, NJNM, didn't mean to bring it up. Ben would never cheat on you. Honest.

For the casual viewers who were slowly being turned off by the clumsy and expensive option of 3D in theaters, I'm here to tell you that you missed out on one of the most entertaining action films I've seen in years. Drive Angry presents itself merely as a revenge, car driven movie but slowly unfurls as a story that broaches other realms of your psyche, kicks you in the nuts, jerks your emotions around, and does this all with Nic Cage shooting, cursing, and fornicating his way to the bad guys.

We meet up with Milton (Cage), who is hell bent on finding the perpetrators responsible for killing his loved ones. During one of his stops through the countryside, he meets up with a starry-eyed waitress named Piper (Heard), who exchanges her Charger for his protective nature. Meanwhile, a mysterious man named The Accountant (Fichtner) is tracking Milton's every move and will stop at nothing in his bounty hunter role.

The men that Milton are trying to find are part of a Satanic cult, led by the visceral Jonah King (Burke). I can't begin to tell you how creepy this character was without spoiling too many of the goodies, but Burke's performance gave this film a legendary antagonist that had Milton's wishing to "drink beer from his skull."

Even though this is an action movie and you can probably guess how most of the story will wrap up with a combination of any of three or four resolutions, Drive Angry was more about the journey than the ending. Nic Cage delivers one his more powerful performances and allows us to reminisce about earlier films like The Rock and why we loved the guy in the first place. Even though the nature of his character stunted much of the emotional connection with others, Cage flawlessly transitioned from vigilante to caring father to honest friend to horny, warm blooded male and back again.

I could sit here and tell you how awesome and attractive and (probably smart) Amber Heard is, but the reality is that she was cast as the female lead meant to slow Milton down. However, after digesting this movie completely I can safely say that Heard's portrayal of the confused, flighty waitress Piper was one of her best efforts. In your action movie mindset, you inherently yearn for Piper and Milton to have more of an emotional connection, but it doesn't matter because Milton is on a war path anyway and we don't know enough about Piper to understand why she just goes with the flow and helps Milton whenever he needs it. Piper tells us about halfway through the movie that she more or less just wants to be part of something and no longer wants to sit around waiting on people--a keen adianoeta referring to her employ and stagnant life dominated by hackneyed choices and an abusive boyfriend.

I really wish you liked guys.

I initially found the mysterious character of The Accountant a little corny to begin with, but William Fichtner (who I remember vividly as the bi-curious Amway salesman in Go) really did him enough justice throughout the story to salvage him from being the weak link in this movie. There's also a mini subplot where The Accountant (below) and Milton discuss and use a gnarly, antiquated shotgun known simply as the "God-killer" that helps to expand the ridiculousness and 3D attributes of Drive Angry in one fell swoop.

From a design standpoint, this film looked gorgeous and I can only imagine it being an exhilarating ride in the theaters, third dimension or not. The bookend sequences reminded you of a dark graphic novelization while the bulk of the movie was painted with this matted exterior set against these muscle cars that exuded nothing but masculinity. The special effects for the guns, explosions, and gore were all exaggerated and pulled off in a charming way similar to the effect desired in other campy action films like Kill Bill Vol. 1 and From Dusk till Dawn.

Honestly, I can't find any serious hangups I had about this violent, unforgiving rollercoaster. Perhaps the only thing that was a little tired was Piper actually dropping a line about Milton "being honest just this one time...." At this point she had thrown her conventional life away, and in reality Milton had no reason to be completely honest with her about his past--after so many shotgun shells and misadventures with cultists it was all semantics anyway.

I cannot recommend Drive Angry enough, especially to those who have lost touch with the ways of the smarmy Nic Cage. 9/10 stars.

The NJNM Podcast: Ep. 43 - Slither (Guest: Germain Lussier from Slashfilm.com)

In this week's episode, Ben and Tyler are joined by Germain Lussier (from Slashfilm.com) to discuss James Gunn's 2006 film, Slither.

Introduction

Character Name Game Intro - 1:21

Media Consumed

Tyler

DC is "rebooting" many of its comic titles - 1:56

Germain

Thrashin' - 11:05

X-Men: First Class - 16:30

Ben

Taking Flight: The Development of Superman - 24:15

Review

Slither - 31:11

Wrap-Up

Next Time: Once Upon A Time In The West - 57:22

Listener E-mail/Voicemail - 59:06

Character Name Game - 1:03:55

Where You Can Find Us - 1:07:25

For more information on DC's upcoming changes, click here.

X-Men: First Class

X-Men: First Class is the superhero movie I didn't even know I'd been waiting for. A hybrid of prequel and reboot, it's most successful in borrowing the elements that worked best from each of the previous X-Men films and consolidating them into one fluid story. Inspired casting, solid acting, a terrific script, impressive effects, and really great action: what more could you want in a superhero film?

X-Men: First Class
Co-writer/Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, January Jones

In the recent pantheon of superhero movies - since Bryan Singer's X-Men hit theaters in 2000 - I'd place First Class under The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 2, Iron Man, and possibly X2: X-Men United. Considering there have been over 40 superhero movies released since 2000, the high placement of First Class should obviously be taken as a testament to its superior quality. Director Matthew Vaughn not only infuses the film with an inspiring style desperately lacking since Singer turned the director's chair over to Brett Ratner in 2006, but Vaughn also contributed to the script with his Kick-Ass co-writer Jane Goldman. (Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz, the duo behind Marvel's most recent effort, Thor, co-wrote First Class as well.) Also impressive is Vaughn's ability to jump from deconstructing superhero tropes in Kick-Ass to effectively utilizing them here in First Class; more importantly, he handles both approaches with equal amounts of skill, able to slide around within the same genre from parody to a more traditional (yet still outstanding) entry.

The casting in First Class is stellar from top to bottom. James McAvoy is the perfect young Charles Xavier. Strong-willed and powerful, he's easily imaginable as one day growing into Patrick Stewart's iconic representation of the character. Michael Fassbender continues his slow rise to member of the Hollywood elite as Erik "Magneto" Lensherr, imbuing the character with an intensity and smoldering rage coupled with a willingness to keep an open mind...until his inevitable shift. That's what's awesome about this movie: they didn't stretch out the character development over three films (ahem, Star Wars prequels). By the end of this movie, I was rearing to go for a sequel right then and there, and that's a rare feeling for me in a big budget blockbuster franchise movie these days. Jennifer Lawrence is splendid as Mystique, pulling a complete 180 from the dirty noirish heroine of Winter's Bone to the beautiful shape-shifter we see here. Even Kevin Bacon (what's he doing here?!) was fun to watch, playing it relatively straight - after his Nazi intro - as the villainous Sebastian Shaw, hellbent on nuclear war and complete with a harebrained scheme involving mutant domination of the fallout.

The secondary cast members were also impressive, led by the wonderful Rose Byrne as CIA agent Moira MacTaggert. She's an actress who's basically been the real life Hollywood equivalent of Mystique lately, disappearing into vastly different roles in Get Him to the Greek, Bridesmaids, and now this. January Jones was the only weak link, although her stiff and lifeless acting was perhaps more apt here since she's playing ice queen Emma Frost than in other roles she's inhabited in her career. (See gratuitous picture at left.) Don't get me wrong, she looked spectacular - she's just a terrible actress. The rest of the young mutant cast was fine, but not worth mentioning (aside from the technical point that Scott Summers' brother Alex - aka Havok - is involved in this movie even though this makes no sense in the overall series timeline). One of the largest successes of this film is that Vaughn and his crew were able to assemble the best cast of military character actors ever committed to film. All these guys are in the same movie:

(Photo above. Top row, left to right: Glenn Morshower, James Remar, Matt Craven. Bottom row, left to right: Ray Wise, Michael Ironside, Olek Krupa, Rade Serbedzija)

The main triumph of First Class is the way the writers were able to fit the best elements of each film into one cohesive story. There are the uncertainty issues of growing into one's powers featured in the first movie, Magneto is essentially a stand-in for Wolverine from X2 (the loner badass of the group), and there is a "cure for bizarre outward appearance" subplot featured heavily in X3 that arises between the smitten Beast and Mystique this time around. The seamless integration of these elements makes me wish Vaughn would have written and directed X-Men 3, but he left the project before Ratner ultimately got his hands on it. Some may argue that this movie makes too many references to what will eventually come in the series (Charles and Erik play chess! Cerebro is built! The Blackbird appears! Charles is paralyzed! Magneto's helmet! Two famous cameos!), but I didn't find these as distracting as they easily could have been. I think that's the clearest sign that this is a really solid script - there are so many winking moments to the fans, but none of them get in the way of the film's legitimately interesting plot, which invokes historical events (here, the Cuban Missile Crisis) in a way that no other superhero movie outside of Watchmen has attempted.

X-Men: First Class is a fantastic example of how to breathe new life into a dying franchise, and I'm really hoping Vaughn and the rest of the cast can bring the same magic if they decide to make a direct sequel in the next few years. But even if they can't recapture the same glory, we can be thankful they've already brought us one of the best superhero movies of the past decade. Until next time...

Hesher

Though Hesher is Spencer Susser's feature debut, his directing career really began in 2008 with an impressive short film called I Love Sarah Jane. The short drew acclaim from all kinds of festivals and - more importantly - paved the way for his involvement with soon-to-be producer Natalie Portman; Susser sent her Sarah Jane and the script for Hesher, and the multi-talented actress was so impressed she quickly joined the project as a producer and co-star. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Rainn Wilson signed on soon after, and Hesher eventually premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

Hesher
Co-writer/Director: Spencer Susser
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Devin Brochu, Natalie Portman, Rainn Wilson

Gordon-Levitt's lead performance as Hesher is a sight to behold. He's a long-haired, foul-mouthed anarchist who loves Metallica and blowing stuff up. Hesher feels more like a force than a character; he slices through this movie like a scythe, influencing the actions of a young boy named T.J. (Devin Brochu) who recently lost his mother in a car accident. T.J.'s father (Rainn Wilson) has fallen into a depression - he was the one driving during the accident - and has turned to pills for the answer, but their only effects are inducing sleep and essentially removing all vitality from his life. After Hesher inexplicably moves in to T.J.'s house, the movie turns into a story of a bizarre friendship, a love triangle involving a grocery store cashier (Natalie Portman), and a coming-of-age tale of the difficulties of moving on after a traumatic event.

The film feels like a Sundance movie: melodramatic moments, shouting matches, dimly lit and cheaply furnished sets, and an intimate shooting style all collide to form a movie that is interesting to watch and is perhaps a bit better when digested over the course of a few days. The performances are all very strong, and Gordon-Levitt's outrageous character will be enough to warrant a watch for his fans, but this is certainly not a movie for everybody. Susser co-wrote Hesher with Animal Kingdom writer/director David Michod, and if you've seen that movie, you may notice some of the same sensibilities among these two films. It's a deliberate movie that has no problem taking its time with its characters, and though Gordon-Levitt is fantastic in it, he's actually more of a secondary character than T.J., who is front and center with his struggles for the duration. Portman plays a mousy mashup of many characters she's played before, but in a testament to her considerable talent, I found her performance infinitely charming to watch.

Bottom line? Hesher is a well-executed movie that's worth checking out if you're a die-hard JoGo Levitt or Portman fan. It's a bit slow at parts, but Hesher's metal moments are enough to make up for the occasional floundering element. I'm actually more interested in Susser's current attempts to turn his Sarah Jane short into a feature film, so perhaps one day there will be a review of that full-length feature on this site. Until next time...