Review - Drive

In the first of what feels like a busy season of Ryan Gosling movies (he’s got Crazy Stupid Love and The Ides of March coming up next), the Canadian actor stars as an anonymous Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a top-notch getaway driver. He also secretly pines for his angelic neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan), a young mother whose husband has just got out of jail. When the family is suddenly threatened by a gang of rancorous mobsters, Driver selflessly takes on the role of their lethal protector.

There’s a catchy old school quality about Nicholas Winding Refn’s latest work. From the garish pink opening credits over the LA skyline to the ominous electronic soundtrack accompanying the protagonist’s late night outings, Drive looks and sounds like the coolest film noir the 80’s never made.

Plus, throw in a taciturn, commanding character that is highly reminiscent of the Dollars trilogy’s Man With No Name and you’ve got a new poster boy just waiting to adorn film students’ dorm rooms. Admittedly Ryan Gosling, whose young, handsome, chiselled features wouldn’t suit the part of a lone urban cowboy, does not possess the same gravitas as a poncho-clad Eastwood. Yet somehow he manages to find the perfect balance between boyish charm (his wordless romance with Mulligan is the kind that’ll leave indie lovers deeply touched) and cold-blooded menace (there is an elevator scene you won’t be forgetting for some time). It’s an outstanding performance which further cements his reputation as one of the industry’s hottest talents.

And while we’re at it, here’s some food for thought: movies don’t treat us to a good old car chase as often as they used to. Excluding the Fast & Furious franchise, ever since that pesky bus from Speed screeched off the screen, high speed vehicle pursuits have increasingly been tainted either by CGI overload (The Matrix Reloaded) and frantic editing (Quantum of Solace), sometimes both at once. Refn opens his film with a getaway down the midnight streets of LA, as our hero tries to dodge with an almost surgical precision a number of police cars and helicopter searchlights. It’s a remarkably tense scene, rendered all the more effective by its flawless execution, with not one CGI shot throughout.

The only problem with Drive is that while it may be a film that is gorgeous to look at it, it is a tough one to engage with on an emotional level. Like Tarantino’s Kill Bill, its characters are cut-outs from what is blatantly a fictional world, one where the gory violence feels more resonant than the relationships. That’s not to say that all films should feature saccharine segments where everyone shares their feelings before going off to hammer a bullet into a thug’s cranium, but a little extra pathos could’ve made an already really good film into a truly excellent one.  

4/5