In Drive Angry 3D (certainly a frontrunner for the most audacious film title of 2011), Nicolas Cage plays a father hunting down the leader of a satanic cult. There's a certain irony to having Cage face off with a cult leader, given that the manic actor has spawned his own cult of personality, the internet meme know as Nic Cage as Everyone.

The meme fits because of the "Cage Conundrum." With every film, we're never quite certain what flavour of Cage craziness we'll get. Like a love child of Marlon Brando and Courtney Love, the actor can serve up pure cinematic hackery (National Treasure), great comedy (Raising Arizona) and occasionally stun us with a total transformation (Adaptation).

Lately, we've been seeing more of the less-inspired Cage characters, perhaps driven by certain financial issues. Well, Cage's problems must be of Nelsonian proportions to justify some of the cinematic schlock he's appeared in lately.

Nicolas Cage in growls and grimaces his way through Drive Angry. (Maple Pictures)

It's only February, but Drive Angry is the second Cage film to roll into theatres this year. The first was Season of the Witch, a Middle Ages thriller so bad Uwe Boll could have directed it.

So what can we expect from Drive Angry? Looking like a member of a Nickelback cover band, Cage plays Milton: a badass daddy who escapes hell to avenge his daughter and save her baby. He's the kind of guy who can flip a car with a single blast of his shotgun. Every kick to a thug's head is accompanied by the roar of electric guitars.

Drive Angry falls easily in line with Cage's other paycheque films. All he's required to do is grimace and growl, occasionally delivering his lines with the intensity of a guest host on Saturday Night Live.

Movie critic conventions require me at this point to give you a little more of the plot. So here goes: Nicolas Cage's Milton teams up with Piper, a Florida waitress with mean right hook. Together, they head off in Piper's '69 Dodge Charger to stop a southern satanic cult from sacrificing Milton's granddaughter.

The true surprise in Drive Angry is that the rest of the cast compensate for Cage's somnolent performance. First there's Billy Burke, a bargain basement Billy Bob Thornton-type who plays the leader of the cult -- Satan with a soul patch and penchant for velvet blazers.

William Fichtner steals scenes as The Accountant in Drive Angry. (Maple Pictures)

Taking a page from Christopher Walken's playbook, William Fichtner portrays hell's henchman, a mysterious individual known only as The Accountant. Fichtner steals just about every scene, sneering at local yokels as he ambles after Milton with the air of a businessman on working vacation.

Finally, following up on her appearance in Zombieland, Amber Heard plays the hottie du jour, Piper. While her main qualifications seem to be a collection of daisy dukes and halter-tops, Heard takes to the part with a snarl that puts Kristen Stewart to shame.

The man behind the wheel for this film is Canadian director Patrick Lussier. He's been on the industry's radar, especially after appearing on Variety's annual list of 10 directors to watch. Much has been made of Lussier's use of 3D, which is anything but subtle. Bad guys are shot and splashed across the screen like watermelons at a Gallagher show. The screenplay, which Lussier co-wrote, could have used a little more refinement. With a number of laugh-out-loud lines, Drive Angry looks like it could be an early contender for next year's Razzies screenplay award.

Some films are bad, but every now and again a movie comes along that's so bad, so audacious, so assured in its awfulness, that it comes full circle and can actually be considered good. Drive Angry is one of those films: a gory and glorious bit of camp trash that would make Roger Corman proud.

Rating: 3 flaming skulls out of 5.

--Eli Glasner