Drive Angry - Blu-ray Review

4.0 Stars (out of 5)

Synopsis

Career criminal Milton (Nicolas Cage) breaks out of prison to pursue the cult members who killed his daughter and kidnapped her baby. Milton is in turn chased by a serial killer (William Fichtner) who's determined to catch him before he can find redemption. Aiding Milton in his quest is Piper (Amber Heard), a comely waitress who supplies him with a muscle car that he uses to outrace the police that are hot on his trail. (Buy Now $18.99)

Starring:

Amber Heard, Nicolas Cage, Katy Mixon, William Fichtner, Billy Burke, David Morse, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Christa Campbell, Charlotte Ross

Director:

Patrick Lussier

Blu-ray Release Date:

May 31, 201

Subtitles:

English SDH, Spanish

Rating

Overall rating weighted as follows:
Audio 40%, Video 40%, Special Features 20%, Movie - its just our opinion so take it with a grain of salt

Audio 4.0 Stars (out of 5)

Dolby and DTS Demo Discs used as basis for comparison
●        Subwoofer - 4.0 Stars 
●        Dialog - 4.0 Stars
●        Surround Effects - 4.0 Stars
●        Dynamic Range - 4.0 Stars

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1

Drive Angry has a decent audio mix for a run of the mill action film. This film has lots of gun fights, and they land heavy on the couch with a little extra bass that seems to run throughout the film. There are also several explosions that fill the room in an attempt to bring the movie into the home. Sometimes it's hard to hear the dialog over the loud pumping of corny 80's guitar riffs.  Several classic muscle cars are featured, and they sound great as their gas guzzling engines rev across the screen. The surround speaker usage was present, but not utilized enough for this type of movie.

Video  4.6 Stars (out of 5)

Spears & Munsil Benchmark Blu-ray Edition used as basis for comparison
●        Color Accuracy  - 4.5 Stars
●        Shadow detail - 4.5 Stars
●        Clarity - 5.0 Stars
●        Skin tones - 4.0 Stars
●        Compression - 5.0 Stars

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC, Resolution: 1080p, Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1, Original Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

What stands out the most about Drive Angry’s video performance is it’s great clarity. You’re lucky enough to see every odd looking bristly hair on Nicolas Cage's tired aging face, along with his terrifying greasy hair. Clothing textures, gravel, and leaves also have stunning sharpness. The clarity is so good in fact, it contrasts so much with the horrible special effects it makes them extremely noticeable. The colors are a little hot, and make most of the flesh tones are a little to warm. It’s possible this was done on purpose to make the movie hotter than normal since some of the characters in it came from hell.

Bonus Features 3.0 Stars (out of 5)

●        Audio Commentary: With writer Todd Farmer and the Writer/Director Patrick Lussier.
●        Deleted Scenes (1080p, 1:36):  Only 2 extended scenes
●        Access: Drive Angry: This interactive Picture-in-Picture feature allows viewers to "track Milton's mayhem, view interviews with the cast and filmmakers, and enjoy trivia and facts" as the movie plays.

Movie - 2.0 Stars (out of 5)

Review

Drive Angry could be an enjoyable movie, if you were a 15 year old boy secretly watching it late at night with your parents asleep. However, it’s a bad movie if you are an adult who needs more than gory violence and nudity to make you entertained. There were several holes and important information that seemed to be left out of the film. I watched the deleted scenes to see if it would fill in the gaps, but they did not. I couldn’t subject myself to watching the movie again with the commentary on or the “Access: Drive Angry” features enabled to investigate the plot problems. So I just have to say, it was bad writing.

It’s hard for me to say if this movie was made to be corny on purpose. Every time the main character exits the car to after shooting someone, a hackneyed guitar riff blasts, and I giggle. It’s not a good giggle, I’m laughing at the movie, not with it. I think the movie is supposed to be serious, but it’s bad enough to be funny. Its over the top, filled with clichés, and is extremely predictable. In fact when the credits started to roll, my wife said, “That was a difficult movie to sit though.”

Comments

[Nelson]

I lasted 20 minutes before I turned this off. I guess they used the F word 50 times in the first 5 minutes.