I’ve been waiting to watch Drive since I saw Neon Demon. I wasn’t as big of a fan of Neon Demon as some others, but I was intrigued by Nicolas Winding Refn’s style. That mixed with my liking of Ryan Gosling had led my drive to see this movie. I give Drive the Must See rating.
Drive is a film I plan on rewatching many times in the future.
Drive has a great cast with Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Oscar Isaac, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, and Albert Brooks. Gosling’s character isn’t like one I can recall seeing him play before. He is extremely quiet in the film, which first comes off as slightly endearing, even though it’s after the first getaway drive. Refn slowly reveals how dark the driver actually is as events spiral out of control. The driver isn’t afraid to sting, like the foreshadowing scorpion jacket he wears, when he is backed into a corner. His quiet begins to show a menace about him that borders on the psychotic.
His connection to Shannon (Cranston) is clearly just business. There is a respect between the two, but the driver seems emotionally distant. Shannon seems to employ all three of the drivers jobs basically acting as his agent. The driver’s life seems simple until he begins to fall for the girl next door (Mulligan). Irene and her son Benicio (Kaden Leos) seem to bring joy to the driver and he clearly has a desire to protect them. When her husband returns from jail, Standard (Isaac) needs a driver to help pay off a debt he earned while in prison. It’s this chain of events that really gets the plot going.
Brooks and Perlman play gangsters essentially that Shannon seeks out for some financial assistance. He seems to want to take the driver legit and put him behind the wheel of a stock car. These two play more than just financial assistants in this film, but I’ll leave out exactly how their roles impact the plot. I loved all the performances in this film and found Cranton’s to be a bit smaller than he often plays parts. He isn’t attempting to steal the spotlight in this film and falls into his role perfectly.
As far as the film itself goes, the story is told through a series of amazing visuals. The shots of the driver behind the wheel being some of my favorite. The lighting in these scenes and the angles Refn and D.P. Newton Thomas Sigel utilizes are gorgeous. The violence in the film is Tarantino-esque as it gets pretty gory at times. So much so, that it begins to feel satirical when it occurs. However, the theme that Hossein Amini and, presumably, James Sallis wrote into the film of people will return to their nature embodied by the scorpion on his jacket is extremely intriguing. The way this is explored throughout the film really made an impact on my opinion of it.
It’s definitely a film I will watch again. I’m extremely glad that I bought it and encourage you to do the same. I assumed the film would be heavily about chase scenes, and while there are a couple, it’s a much darker story than I expected. The cast that plays these characters make them compelling as the plot unfolds. Check this film out as soon as you’re able to.
Berkreviews.com 