Movie Review: Drive

Drive
2011
Starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Albert Brooks
Written by Hossein Amini (based on the book by James Sallis)
Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn

So, I haven't posted anything in a while, relying on Ry to keep the Enterprise flying.  And he's done a fantastic
job, but I thought I had better pull my weight round here or risk getting cut from the crew!  Last night I sat down and watched Drive, and here's what I thought:

1. 2011 seems to be the year of Ryan Gosling - well for me anyway.  Before this year, I could count the number of movies of his I have seen on 1 finger - being Lars & The Real Girl.  But so far this year I have seen both Crazy, Stupid, Love and The Ides of March (neither of which I have reviewed here at the Enterprise but both of which I heartily recommend, with Gosling's performances very strong).  And now, Drive.

2. Gosling plays an unnamed character (the "Driver") who is a stunt driver for Hollywood films, and moonlights as a getaway driver.  During the day he also works at a garage, run by Shannon (Bryan Cranston).  Shannon is involved with some shady characters (Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman) for funding.  Driver becomes friends with his neighbour (Carey Mulligan) and her son, while her husband is in jail.  After the husband is released, he gets caught up with the wrong crowd and Driver is required to help out with his special skills to try and save the wife & son from repercussions.

3. Great cast for this film, and every performs well.  Bryan Cranston is always good, as is Ron Perlman and Albert Brooks.  I have only ever seen Carey Mulligan in one thing before, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, which let's face it, sucked harder than a pornstar at her day job, so I wasn't sure how good Mulligan was - but she put in a strong performance here.  But it is Gosling's movie, and he broods his way through it admirably.  I think he was better in The Ides of March, but the 2 roles are completely different and hence he plays them differently.

4. This is Director Nicolas Winding Refn's first US film, being Danish.  And he obviously has an eye for the type of movie he wanted, right down to the choice of music.  I turned to J during the movie and said "isn't the music very 80's", and it is, but not in a "put a Hits Out 87 CD on" type of way but just the feel and style of the music.

5. Just an aside here, it wasn't until the end credits that I saw the name Russ Tamblyn pop up - yes, for those Twin Peaks fans among you that is Russ "Dr Jacoby" Tamblyn.  But it must be a blink and you'll miss it role because I don't recall seeing him.

6. I've read some reviews of this film that are shocked by the violence in the movie - and to be fair, it's pretty full on.  I think what shocks is that it is quite a way into the film before anything violent happens, and when it does it is pretty explosive, so people aren't ready for it (it's not like you are really expecting it like you would be if you were watching a horror movie for example).  So yes, it is violent, but I think it is good that a movie shows "realistic" violence - if someone shoots you in the head with a shotgun for example, it's not going to be pretty, and the movie portrays this.

Drive does have it's faults, not least of which is the ending, in which the actions of Driver, who seems to be quite smart and handled things well up until then, makes a decision / simple error which surely he would have known to avoid.  But apart from that, the movie is quite good.  The opening getaway sequence which introduces us to Driver is fantastic and different than a traditional Hollywood car chase scene.  Overall, a good way to spend Saturday night and I look forward to Refn making more American movies in the future!