Now Playing: Drive Angry 3D (2011)

Today, after unsuccessfully seeing Drive Angry 3D twice before, I finally managed to do what seemed like the impossible. I sat in a theater and watched Drive Angry 3D. It was an interesting experience. It was only playing in the brand new Cineplex AVX theater. This is a new, more expensive, way to see movies in which you can pick you seat when you but your ticket, the chairs are more comfortable, and the screen and sound system are top notch! This brought the final ticket price to over $17. It won't be that expensive everywhere, but it will be a little more due to the 3D price hike. So is this new Nicholas Cage movie worth the money to see it on the big screen? I'll let you know right after the jump!


So to start off, how did Nic Cage preform? He was alright, he wasn't ever over the top and his motivations were believable. Or maybe I should say his reactions were believable. I don't really understand the name of the movie though. I had the impression going in that Nic Cage, or rather his character Milton would be just insane with anger. But he isn't really at all. Sure he's mad enough to go on a killing spree to save his granddaughter, but he's very calm and calculated about it. It probably also helps that he's not afraid to get shot since he's already dead.

One of the coolest guns in a movie, The GodKiller

Oh yeah, about that, maybe I should catch you up on the story. Milton was in Hell, and he escaped to save his granddaughter. He can't die, but there's a demon after him who simply refers to himself as the Accountant. The Accountant, played by William Fichtner, wants to recapture Milton and take him back to his fiery prison. I'd just like to quickly saw that the Accountant was awesome in ever scene he was in. So, other than a few small details, it's pretty much Ghost Rider. But actually, quite a bit better than Ghost Rider.

Similarly to Ghost Rider, Drive Angry 3D had some difficulties pulling off it's special effects. Some of them were fine, like a weird scene involving Milton's eye was quite well done. But later in the movie an action scene involving an oncoming truck was some of the worst CG I've seen since X-men Origins Wolverine.

Speaking of action scenes, there are quite a few in here, and those, unlike Cage's acting in this movie, were totally and completely over the top and absurd. Sometimes that's a good thing, and sometimes it's not. For the most part I enjoyed the action with only a few instance where it became goofy or just didn't work. There's one chase scene involving a motor home, and I'm sorry, but you just can't make a motor home look like it's going fast. The result was a lopsided chase with shots of a lumbering motor home slowly going down the road while quick-cut high speed action is going on all around it. It just didn't work.

Best part of the whole movie was The Accountant

Quickly before I wrap up I'd just like to touch on the 3D and the soundtrack. The movie was shot in 3D, this resulted in images being quite crisp without the annoying telltale signs of post production 3D around the edges of things. Unfortunately, I don't think it worked very well as it gave me quite a headache, and this is the first time I've had one from watching a 3D movie. Finally, I really didn't like some of the song choices in the movie. This however is clearly a personal opinion because my friend who I saw it with seemed surprised when I said that to him. Just wanted to put that out there though.

So after all of that, is it worth seeing in the theater? I don't really think so. The higher price point is a really hard pill to swallow, and considering there are quite a few problems with the movie, it's probably best to wait and see it at home. But I do think it is good enough that it could be an enjoyable watch, just not for the $17+ price we were looking at.