DRIVE (N/A)
Release Date: Supposedly last year but was cancelled
Running Time: 100 minutes
Distributor: Film District
Director: Nicholas Winding Refn
Screenplay: Hossein Amini
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Ron Pearlman
Plot: Ryan Gosling stars as a Los Angeles wheelman for hire, stunt driving for movie productions by day and steering getaway vehicles for armed heists by night. Though a loner by nature, Driver can't help falling in love with his beautiful neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), a vulnerable young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld by the return of her ex-convict husband Standard (Oscar Isaac). After a heist intended to pay off Standard's protection money spins unpredictably out of control, Driver finds himself driving defense for the girl he loves, tailgated by a syndicate of deadly serious criminals. But when he realizes that the gangsters are after more than the bag of cash in his trunk-that they're coming straight for Irene and her son-Driver is forced to shift gears and go on offense. REVIEWS AFTER THE JUMP
Review: ‘Drive’ is an artsy action film that doesn’t play according to the conventional book of rules; thus it is important to acknowledge the differences with other mainstream flicks. Failure to recognize so will bring an awkward feeling deep inside coupled with the fact on ‘Drive’ is less actions that it previously thought. So to say, the lack of imaginative and mainstream actions could harm the expectation. For such, the first 10 minutes of the movie pretty much sums up what we will be engaging over the next 90 minutes of ‘Drive’.
In Drive, Ryan Gosling stars as Driver, a loner and mysterious experience stunt driver during the day and a getaway driver for heist-job during the night. By faith, he can't help to notice and fall in love with his beautiful neighbor Irene (played by Carey Mulligan), a single mother. When their relationship seems to be flourishing from there onwards, the pair is lured into a dangerous turn with the return of her ex-convict husband Standard (played by Oscar Isaac). Agreeing to help Standard to retrieve some protection money, the heist goes eerily wrong. Driver is forced out to take himself out to defend Irene from the incoming threats from the underground mobsters.
The plot is structurally well-written and could work both ways as an action noir or a romantic tale. It started off tame by letting our protagonist to wonder around his normal routine before his life changed with the presence of a woman named. With that decent escapist technique, it goes on very well in explaining the back story of each character will little effort but eventually ample. The best thing about 'Drive' is that you never know what is happening in the next 5 minutes because of how wide the story can go. Instead of been too cliche, 'Drive' put every perspective into a single strong and advancing story line.
It does not going up along the fast and furious method, rather it eventually plays by brain and less punching. It is not a bad thing at all because such film works well for me too. It seems no brainer to make any comparison with 'Fast Five' although both involve action drivers on the wheel. 'Drive' is more focus and mysterious, besides taking a stroke of violent into a ravishing art. Then and again, as a action art film, it conceives a great throwback to the 80’s pop-music that weirdly fuels this small action movie gloriously in a different scale.
Despite this derivative, ‘Drive’ constantly focuses back on the main plot about revenge. Ryan Gosling has a great year following ‘Drive’, “Crazy Stupid Love’ and ‘The Ides of March’; proving that he is a versatile actor. He takes on this mysterious role calmly, coldly but still effectively aware of the emotional judgement around him.
‘Drive’ is an excellent action movie that brings in smart plot with lack of ridiculous action fare, smart plot with highly stylish-ridden movie and so it also happens to be one of the most under-rated movie of the year. That's go to say that it misses the Best Picture nominations.
MY RATING:
Story: 4.5
Casts: 4.5
Cinematography: 4.0
Effects: 4.0
GREEN-TEA-O-METER: 17.8/20.0
'DRIVE' is nominated for BEST SOUND EDITING for the 84th Academy Awards