Drive is to Transporter as The Road is to 2012, let’s get that clear right from the start. Same basic plot does not equal same basic movie, and those looking for a mindless action film of sweet car chases and insane auto stunts best look elsewhere. Drive is a car movie based on suspense, emotion, and realism; it ain’t your average action blockbuster.
Ryan Gosling is the mysterious ‘driver,’an unnamed and silent spaghetti-western cowboy in eighties attire, cruising gracefully through the streets of LA. He is a stunt driver for Holllywood movies and moonlights as a contract getaway driver, he is very good at both of these jobs. He is not good at conversation; he rarely speaks and this largely effects the tone of the film. His life is silent and orderly until he meets a girl (Carey Mulligan) and her young son and then his life is a romance. Then the boy’s father returns from prison, and while obviously nothing good can come from this, a lot of bad spirals out. There are threats, a heist, a set-up, a man-hunt, and more victims than a Shakespearean tragedy.
Through all of this, it may be relevant to note that there are only two car chases. The first, in the opening, is a covert duck-and-cover through the streets of Los Angeles. The second is a high-speed chase that as far as I could tell was completely within the laws of physics. There is violence, but not elaborate shoot-outs. No one knows any forms of martial arts or owns a bazooka. The action is desperate, undignified, and violent.
The action is therefore “real,” and the actors only help make it so. Every performance is captivating, matching the brilliant characters written for them. Real credit however, I believe should go to director Nicolas Winding Refn who has assembled these good components and turned it into a great film with a distinctive feel and originality. The music, the silence, and the understating of what most blockbusters embellish to absurdity makes this a film worth watching. It makes it a film with Drive.
Overall Rating:
S-A-B-R-E
