Drive (2011)

“Do you understand?”

Almost everything about Drive is unconventional, from the artsy style to the casting choices. Who could imagine Ryan Gosling pulling off a badass killer in a crime film? It’s certainly not what he’s mainly known for, but he plays the part of the mysterious driver fairly well. And his chemistry with Carey Mulligan makes for a convincing love story even among the violence and gore which the film romanticizes. It almost feels like watching a foreign film, and to a certain extent it is one, considering the Swedish director, Nicolas Winding Refn, orchestrated the shots. And while I’ll admit that the film is well-made and is an artistic success, it didn’t get my blood pumping as much as I had hoped. The fault largely lies in the script, which relies heavily on an aura of mystery to fill in the gaps.

I remember watching The Two Faces of January on the plane a couple of months ago and thinking, Wow, the writing is horrible. I mean, a main character dies by falling down stairs, and then the story completely shifts in a different direction. And one of the first things I did when I got on a computer was look up the writer of the screenplay, which turns out to be a guy named Hossein Amini. Guess who the writer of Drive is? Yeah, this Amini guy isn’t exactly the Tarantino of screenwriters, but thankfully, Drive isn’t a film that depends so heavily on its story. The film is visually artistic but lacks an exceptional plot; sort of like a decorative man of average intelligence.

The film provides an all-around smooth viewing experience. The narration does well to avoid sluggish explanations using properly thought-out edits and cuts. The driver falling in love with Carey Mulligan’s character doesn’t raise too much of an eyebrow, even though it all happens pretty fast. And because the characters are likable, their romance is easy to root for, even though the movie lacks mushy love scenes. So a lot of my praise goes to the balance which Drive exhibits between drama and action—there isn’t too much mindless bloodshed nor a suffocation of feelings overshadowing every scene.

Bridging off from what I said earlier about unusual, the film contains a mobster who harbors sympathy for his victims. Not only that, Bryan Cranston plays a non-badass role, and the film ends differently than most Hollywood movies usually do. But that isn’t enough to make me love it. Overall, Drive feels like a Quentin Tarantino movie without the dark humor and the dialogue… and the swearing. Okay, fuck that, I guess it isn’t anything like a Tarantino movie at all.

Chad: 3.5

Alex: 4

Overall: 3.5