Drive: Review

By Brian Long

In Drive, director Nicholas Winding Refn (Bronson, The Pusher Trilogy) has created a film of visuals: a bullet and a hammer, an elevator attack, and a golden scorpion stitched onto the back of our hero’s jacket, making it clear that he will strike, quickly and violently, when provoked. It is a film of images almost by necessity in addition to a stylistic choice as our hero, simply known as Driver (Ryan Gosling) speaks very little throughout the course of the movie. He makes Clint Eastwood in the Dollars Trilogy look like a hyperactive 8-year-old.

It is to Gosling’s credit as an actor that his stoic face and expressive eyes reveal so much more than any lines of dialogue could. We see both seething rage and a desire to fit into the domestic life of his next door neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her son Benicio (Kaden Leos). Drive is a fascinating film because it is very difficult to classify. Not understated enough to be considered a full-on art house character study, but not flashy enough to be considered a summer blockbuster of the caliber of the Fast and Furious films. It obeys certain tropes of the pulp crime genre of the “heist gone bad” but subverts just as many: the relationship between Irene and Driver doesn’t go further than innocent hand holding and when Irene’s husband Standard (Oscar Issac) is released from prison, we expect abuse and domestic unrest, but he is a genuinely good person who is trying to make the best of his second chance.

All of the performances are top notch, but special recognition must go to Albert Brooks (Finding Nemo, Broadcast News) who makes a startling face-heel-turn, using his typically warm comedic persona to portray a truly chilling and unstable mob boss. I want to do my best to keep the details of this film vague, because many details and surprises were spoiled for me (if you can, avoid the trailer) before my butt hit the theater seats. Know this, Drive is a unique film, and it is the type of film that comes around all too rarely because it can provide something for everyone. Do you enjoy introspective character studies? Do you enjoy pulpy crime dramas? Do you enjoy Ryan Gosling’s pretty boy face? (Editor Spence Blazak sure as heck fire loves all three!.....all…..three…..) Then refund your ticket Dolphin Tail and check this film out.

3 and a ½ stars out of 4