Review #296: 'Drive' (2011)

Sarah Deming, a resident of Michigan, took legal action against the producers of Drive, as she was expecting a Fast and the Furious (2001)-type action movie. Bizarrely she is also claiming that the film is anti-Semitic, but on the former, she has a bit of a point, as the trailer does focus mainly on the driving element of the film, which there is very little in comparison to the aforementioned piece-of-shit franchise, making the trailer a little misleading. This ludicrous story aside, the film does use many of the iconographic elements that make a good driving/action film: Ryan Gosling's character, simple named Driver, wears the sports jacket made famous by the likes of Steve McQueen, Ryan O'Neal and Paul Newman, made iconic in 1960's and '70's cinema.

Driver is a stunt man for the film industry, and makes extra cash as a transporter of people in heists. He meets his neighbour, Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her son. Eventually her partner is released from prison, and is conned into doing a robbery, to pay back money for services whilst in prison. Driver, having a strong connection with Irene, wants to help him out. As this is a set up, things go terribly wrong. Albert Brooks gives a superb performance as gangster Bernie Rose, along with smaller - but no less brilliant - performances from Ron Perlman and Bryan Cranston (who was the main reason that I ever watched Malcolm in the Middle).

Nicholas Winding Refn's first American film, sees him riff on many classic films - of particularly the 1980's. The lush look of LA is captured in all it's neon-lit beauty and reminded me very much of the iconic Michael Mann aesthetic. Also there are some protracted, and audio-specific moments of violence that offered that same kind of eeww-factor that you get in a David Lynch moment of violence. Gosling has to beat a guy in a lift, and the sounds are very reminiscent of the opening scene in Wild at Heart (1990), where Sailor crushes someones head against a stairwell banister.

I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this piece of stylish cinema - and fortunately it is not a case of style over substance, that is so prevalent today. This film has strong emotion, even with Gosling's incredibly laconic performance. I had a conversation with a friend about this film. As I was saying how "cool" it was, my friend turned to me and said he had started watching the film, but switched off half way through as he found it boring. This brings me back to the first paragraph of this review. He also believed the film to be of action orientation. So, is everything about this film misleading? Well, no.


Directed by: Nicolas Winding Refn
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Marc Ivamy