Patrick Lussier’s splatterfest is fully aware of its own glorious idiocy, yet it works mostly because its star, Nicolas Cage, attacks his absurd role without so much as a single knowing wink. Cage is deadpan as a dead man who’s escaped from hell to track down the cult that murdered his daughter and is about to sacrifice his infant granddaughter. While scattering Satanist brains with the help of a fiery blonde (Amber Heard), he also has to dodge a devil’s henchman (a reliably weird William Fichtner) intent on reclaiming his stray soul. Drive Angry is gory, goofy, unapologetically trashy and a whole lot of fun—a scene where Cage engages in some simultaneous sex, booze and violence multi-tasking is worth the price of admission on its own.
Bayers Lake, Dartmouth Crossing, Park Lane, Sackville
This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2011.