philosoraptor42

Drive (2011)

Wow.

Okay look, the short of it is that this is the best movie I've seen so far in 2011. Even if you don't find that you rate it as highly as I do, everyone is going to be talking about it anyway. The trailer is not that good, so you are best off avoiding that. As per usual, my review is spoiler-free, however reviews cannot help but give preconceptions. I'd suggest you only read the review below if you have either seen the movie or are disinclined to watch it (even later on DVD). All you need to know is that this a unique piece of cinema unlike anything else you've seen this year.

So, with that being said, the review begins now...

One of the two posters I've decided to feature above is not for the movie, but for the soundtrack album. There's two very good reasons for that. First of all, the image of the scorpion on the jacket is quite an important image in this scene, with a very brief, blink and you'll miss it, reference to the tale of "The Scorpion and the Frog".

The other reason however, is that the look and feel of the film owes a great deal to the soundtrack. I've posted a few awesome songs from the soundtrack at the end of this review. Once again, I'll say you are best off not hearing the music until you see the movie, but the interesting thing about it is that it's very synthy with a kind of 80s feel to it. (Oddly enough it's all quite recent music, it just has that kind of style.) You'll also notice on the cover of the soundtrack album (as well as on a lot of the film posters, not to mention in the actual movie itself) there's an odd pink signature style of writing and, if you are like me, this probably had you think "80s" too. Click here and you'll see a comparison being made to the font used for "Heathers".

So why is there an 80s feel to it? To be honest, I'm not sure. It's certainly not set in the 80s. I suppose it's for the same reason that this new music sounds 80s in the first place. It just seems to be cool to draw from 80s styles right now. Another point about the use of this pink font is that it's disarming. Far from being a spoiler, I think it's probably vital to let you know that this movie contains pretty graphic violence. If you are reading this review after my disclaimer at the beginning, it's fair to presume that this is the sort of detail you might be interested in seeing. If you've seen Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises" you'll have an idea of the kind of violence we are talking about, albeit on a much milder level.

With that in mind, you can see how being introduced to our protagonist with this kind of pink writing might be misleading. The first half of the movie seems to leave us with fairly ambiguous signals about the main character. He seems like a decent person, but when he stares out of the window at his attractive next door neighbour (played by Carey Mulligan) is that sweet or creepy? What does it say about him that he's a driver for criminals? I didn't realise until I left the cinema that I'd never once been told this character's name. In many ways Ryan Gosling's central character is a blank slate. He's mysterious.

The movie is quite visually impressive from the beginning, but in the second half is where things get really cool. There are plenty of scenes towards the end where I was so taken aback by the extreme violence and the visual style that I found myself laughing out loud. Seeing as I'm someone who's very keen on black comedies, perhaps that will seem like a strange response to others. Still, i'll put it this way. There were some scenes where the visual impression and the excitement caused by the action on screen meant that the only way I could express my feelings was to laugh. I had a similar response the first time I saw "The Matrix" in the scene where the helicopter crashes into a skyscraper. Sometimes laughter when a movie is trying to be serious is an insult, but other times, for me, it can be my greatest form of flattery. It means that I'm genuinely enjoying myself.

As for visually impressive scenes that stand out, I think the following descriptions will be vague enough not to spoil anything, but clear enough to intrigue you. There's a gorgeously visual treat in an elevator, there's a very interesting light effect in a scene on a beach and there's a fight seen in the form of shadows. It's interesting that so many of these scenes involve light. In fact, in the opening scene and at a number of times during the movie, the city lit up at night also has a wonderful effect, which is impressive considering that this sort of image ought to be all too familiar to us by now. And, of course, there's the actual drivine scenes which are visually arresting as well as visceral and exciting.

Now that I've spoken about the more exciting scenes, I probably ought to quickly mention the less exciting scenes. This isn't a big adrenaline fest. Anyone who's familiar with Refn's Pusher movies will have seen how his scenes of violence are often in the middle of quite a slow paced story and with our driver protagonist not being terribly verbose, there are a number of points where scenes take place in silence. My one complaint in the whole movie would be a scene where we watch Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan stare and smile at each other for a while. The film seems to dwell on that one scene rather too long and it was akward for me in the audience. This is a pretty minor issue though.

There's great performances all round, but no one is ever over the top. Ryan Gosling's central character is pretty restrained, even when he's getting really angry. Ron Perlman's rather hot-headed character is at his most sinister the less expressive his character is. Carey Mulligan has her typical charm and Bryan Cranston is also a pretty warm character as the driver's rather more charismatic employer. Those excited to see the name "Christina Hendricks" in the cast list might be disappointed to hear that she plays quite a small role.

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{C}This is dark, gritty, visceral, visually stunning and powerful cinematic experience unlike anything else you will see this year. I really mean that. Any candidates for film of the year are going to have to beat this and I'm excited to see any contenders.

A+ (Excellent)

Music from the soundtrack below. I'm not sure it'll impress anyone who hasn't seen the film, but if you've just come back from a showing see if this music doesn't still haunt you.:

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