Drive (2011)
It is very rare for me to enjoy current or very recent movies. I stopped going to movie theatres about two years ago both due to the high price for tickets and the low quality of most movies out there. Not that every movie that has hit theatres is terrible, but I find that very few are worth shelling out fifteen dollars to watch. There are exceptions of course, hell, when I made my return to the cinema to watch Super 8 last summer it was well worth my time and money, but that's one movie out of dozens that I would not it good conscience waste time and money to see.
Also, I've noticed that more often then not, the movies I would like to see get next to no publicity. Hell, to return to Super 8 for a moment, other the trailers I watched online and maybe one commercial, there was very little buzz- friends of mine who watch much more television then I do had never heard of the movie when I spoke of it. I could go on and say its part of some marketing conspiracy to get people to go see the major Blockbusters rather then the good films by never telling them said films exist, but I digress. Today's film I again saw maybe one ad for- most of my knowledge came recently, when it appeared on two separate Best of 2011 lists on www.thatguywiththeglasses.com, and most of what was said and shown peaked my interest. I've said before I love a good noir, and modern day noirs are difficult to find. Least they were.
Today we look at Drive, one of the best films I have seen in quite some time and a very well put together film noir. I may not have heard much about it prior, but after seeing it, I will likely be talking about it for some time. This is like Super 8 to me in that both should be seen period- people need to know there was more to 2011 then the Twilight sequel and all the comic book movies. There are still people making semi-original and quality films out there, you just need to look for them, like I did.
Plot
What makes this movie work in my opinion is the plot is extremely simple yet executed in such a well done way that it seems much greater then it is. We follow The Driver, played by Ryan Gosling, a quiet young man who works as a movie stunt driver, and a get away driver. We are introduced to him doing the latter, and his first lines explain his rules pretty well- he gives them five minutes to do their job. Anything goes wrong outside of those five minutes he is not accountable, anything happens in them is on him. The job goes well but leads to a chase with police, but The Driver is able to allude them all get his passengers clear. After this he simply walks away without a word, and at no point during the job does he speak- get used to this. We see The Driver at both his other jobs as well as his apartment, where he meets Irene, played by Carey Mulligan, a neighbor who he seems to be interested in. Running into her and her young son Benicio at a supermarket, he offers them a ride home as their car is having some difficulties, and between very simple exchanges, we learn that Irene's husband is in jail, and that The Driver works as a mechanic. Irene later has her car towed to the same garage where we meet Shannon, played by Bryan Cranston, a man with a limb who provides The Driver with jobs and cars for both his legal and illegal occupations. Again The Driver gives the two a lift home, on Shannon's suggestion, and begins to spend time with them, until word comes out that Irene's husband is out of jail and will be returning home. On the other side of things, we see Shannon making a deal with mobster Bernie Rose, played by Albert Brooks, and his partner, Nino, played by Ron Perlman, to borrow money to buy a race car for The Driver to use in races. Bernie agrees after meeting The Driver and being impressed by his skills, though he tells him about how Shannon's luck has failed him in past business ventures, and how he hopes this one will be different. Upon Irene's husband's return, The Driver finds him beaten in the garage of the apartment, and learns he owes protection money from his time in prison, and those who he owes want him to do a job for them or else he and his family will be targeted. The Driver offers to help with the job, the simple robbing of a pawn shop, but a double cross and much violence later, The Driver is left with a million dollars in cash and his eyes on the man who set everything up- Nino. From there the movie builds to a violent climax, with some great kills and an ending that fits the film perfectly.
Favorite Character
I really wanted to chose someone else for this, but when you get right down to it, as good as the rest of the cast is, this truly is Ryan Gosling's movie. His Driver is quiet, going for long stretches in the film without saying more then two words. He is calm, reserved, or at least seems that way, which makes his eventual breakdown all the sweeter as you know he has been building to this. Yet even then, at points when other characters would completely lose their cool, he retains much of it, only once truly going overboard- although it leads to a great scene. He is a great noir protagonist, mysterious, quiet but with a hint of danger- you may know very little about The Driver but you can see that somewhere inside him is a lot of anger. He has no past that we are aware of, even Shannon says that he just showed up at the garage one day looking for work, and this is almost all that we know of him prior to the film. However what really makes the character work is that even with his silence and calm exterior, he is not cold. The Driver feels like a real person, you care about him and you believe in his relationship with Irene and Benicio. He cares for them as well as Shannon, and only wants to keep them all alive. He has honor to him as well, not carrying a gun and not using one until it's necessary, and only turning to violence when he has no other choice. He is not some psychotic killer, he is a man doing what he has to when he has to, and then just driving away.
Favorite Line
What sets this movie apart in my opinion, is the silence. I know I've mentioned this quite a bit already, but I must again- this movie has a whole lot of quiet scenes, moments with no dialogue, just empty air while the scene plays out. This adds a layer of atmosphere many films lack- it gives you time to breathe, to observe, and to understand. I'm reminded of the Nostalgia Critic's review of Moulin Rouge and how that film was so loud and in your face all the time- this film is the polar opposite. Its quiet and subdued, letting you take everything in before it says anything. This also allows for greater impact when words are spoken, and a great example of that comes out at an early point in the film. Just after Irene's husband returns, The Driver is sitting in a diner when a former client walks over and tries to chat him up, We know the Driver is not in the best of moods, but he keeps calm as the man jabbers on, that is until he mentions a job. It is established that The Driver never works with the same people a second time, which is a wise move as it keeps him disconnected from their world. However here it is much more then a desire to keep to his own code- he's in a bad mood, and he is being annoyed. Add all three facts together and we have the first break in his normally calm exterior.
"How bout this. Shut your mouth. Or I'll kick you teeth down your throat and I'll shut it for you"
This is a line you could get in almost any action movie, but that's not the point. Up until this point in the film the Driver very rarely says more then a sentence at a time, and almost never with anything but a very relaxed tone. Here he is angry and it shows, and not only does he talk, he outright threatens the other man. As previously stated, this is a great example of how his armor is slipping and how his relationship with Irene is beginning to interfere with his life.
Favorite Scene
There are some great driving scenes in this flick, the aforementioned opening chase with the police being a great example. There are also some great death scenes, including a quick but quite gory head explosion at the hands of a shotgun. What's great about both kinds of scenes is how the fit perfectly in the world of the film- the chase scenes are realistic enough that we can forgive the fact that, as my dad says, "there's not cars on the road", and the violence, while at times over the top, is not so extreme that we are turned off by it. It's not overtly gratuitous, although it is very bloody. For me a great scene fits in the latter section, although it's not as bloody as others. This scene popped up in both video reviews that got me interested in the film, and it really was a great hook for them to use. While talking with Irene and trying to explain what happened with her husband and the botched job, The Driver enters an elevator with her that is occupied by another man. As they walk in, the Driver notices the man is armed and rightly assumes he is one of Nino's men, coming to kill them. He calmly pushes Irene to the back of the elevator, then turns and passionately kisses her. The kiss only lasts a moment as the hitman sees it as an opportunity to strike, which the Driver anticipates. He turns away from Irene, disarms the hitman and proceeds to beat him senseless again the door before the elevator reaches the bottom floor and Irene walks off, standing outside watching as The Driver violently stomps the hitman's head into nothing. He then turns to face her, only to watch her back away in fear as the doors close. There is so much emotion in this scene that the complete lack of any dialogue doesn't really matter. Irene is angry with The Driver, who is nervous about explaining exactly what has happened but pushes that aside when he sees they are in danger. The kiss between the two is more then just a distraction as both get into it, showing the desire for one another that has been apparent since they first met. This is followed by the aggression of the Driver and his desire to protect himself and Irene, and ends with her total fear of the man she cares for. The visual of the doors closing on her terrified expression seal the deal and leave us feeling for both her and The Driver, as we know right then and there that there will be no happy ending for the two of them.
Conclusion
Drive is an awesome movie. It is well written, well cast and well-paced, with stretches of silence that do nothing but add to the overall feel and atmosphere of the film. Ryan Gosling is great as the quiet and mysterious Driver, and his supporting cast all play their parts well. The drive scenes are great, the violence is top notch, and the film as a whole flows perfectly. Along with Super 8, this movie actually gives me some hope for cinema, if movies like these can still make it to theatres we might not be as screwed as I thought. We may be flooded with crappy films more often then not, but at least there are some gems left along the way. If you haven't heard of this movie I say check it out, especially is you love real movies with real characters, or even if you just like fast cars and violence, the movie has all of the above along the way. If you have heard of it but weren't sure about it, I say the same, because I don't see what someone could really dislike about this film, unless you are looking for an over the top, in your face, poorly written film with a bad cast, in which I say go watch The Twilight movies, they might be more your style.
4.5 Blown off Heads out of 5
That's all out of me, until next time I'm The Drew and I Be Awesome.
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