Drive Movie Review

This movie has two awesome things, Ryan Gosling and a 70's vibe in both soundtrack and tone. Here are my thoughts.

Story- The Driver (Ryan Gosling, and yes he doesn't have a name in the movie so his character's name is Driver by default, which adds to the ambiguity of the film) moonlights as a getaway driver for criminals. He's calm and calculated and has his stipulations, somewhat similar to Jason Statham in the Transporter movies) but gets the job done, and done efficiently. He doesn't seem to care one way or another what the occupants of the car get into, he's a machine with laser focus. During the day, he acts as a stunt driver, which he seems to somewhat enjoy. When the neighbor next door's (Carey Mulligan) boyfriend gets into trouble with the wrong people, the Driver decides to help, because they have a kid, because she has been kind to him, and he is fond of her. A series of events unfold at that point and you have the basis of the plot. I don't want to spoil too much because it's always better to go in with less insight so the experience is more enjoyable.

Cinematography/Props- The cool thing about this movie is since it has a 70's vibe, technology isn't thrown in your face, presenting the nuanced feel similar to It Follows. It's also nice to see a movie that isn't slammed with product advertisements. Since the primary focus of this movie is of course the driving, the cars are aplenty. He has his low-key cars, so as not to attract unwanted attention on the job, but also has his nice luxury/vintage cars. The key component to this movie is his jacket. The beautiful white satin jacket has a bold golden scorpion on the back, and it has to be the coolest piece of apparel ever featured in the film. The jacket is a statement, and puts his whole demeanor together. It's a reflection of his personality: the plain white is due to the fact he's stoic, not much emotion coming from him, and the golden scorpion is that he's vicious and will protect anything he cares about if provoked. The cinematography is of course gorgeous. I reference it a bit in the directing, but his use of vibrant colors, natural sunlight, it all comes together. In this aspect alone it would warrant a good rating, in terms of presentation.

Acting- Ryan Gosling is the star, and presents a very nuanced and troubled character. He has a very limited set of dialogue, because his character is so stoic. That is a testament to an actor/actresses ability, to be able to connect with the audience without talking, and utilizing emotion (for example Leonardo DiCaprio in the Revenant). Bryan Cranston is in the movie as a supporting character, but he becomes a lead in every way because he is that good. He's a very likable guy and just has the charisma to make you like him. Ron Perlman, another great actor, is not in it for very long either but is fantastic. He can play a protagonist or antagonist with ease, in this case the latter. Carey Mulligan, who I didn't realize played Daisy in The Great Gatsby until I IMDb'd her to see if she'd been in anything I've seen before, is also a troubled character. That's probably the reason why her and Gosling's characters mesh. Albert Brooks, who I very shockingly just found out voices Marlin in Finding Nemo, plays another antagonist, arguably the main one. His character is extremely ruthless, so that's why it's crazy to find that out about Nemo. He delivers a great performance, really making you dislike his character, which is a testament to the quality of his acting.

Directing- To say Nicolas Winding Refn is a controversial director would be putting it lightly. He has four major films to date (Bronson, Only God Forgives, The Neon Demon, and this one), and seemingly all of them have extremely mixed reviews, although this one seems to be the most well received. The reason he seems to be so controversial is due to the gratuitously violent and sexual scenes depicted in his movies. In an interview he even went as far as to call himself a "pornographer" and that he puts things in his films that turns him on. With that slight backstory out of the way, this is the least disturbing of his films by far. He really hit it out of the park with this one. One common characteristic of his films is the use of vibrant and stunning color contrasts. Ironically he is actually colorblind but the neon colors he inserts in the movie subtly are brilliant. He also relies on lighting in a good amount of the shots, for example in one of the final scenes of the movie (not a spoiler) you just see the shadows of two characters interacting on the concrete. He may be somewhat twisted, but he really crafted a fantastic movie here.

Soundtrack- The soundtrack is subtle for the most part, with synth-y robotic vibes, again similar to a 70's feel. Few songs in the movie actually have lyrics, so it's primarily instrumentals. There are some tense tracks for the more intense scenes, but overall it's a sense of calming with the music. Not much more to say than that, it's well done.

Final Verdict- A. This is a movie worth watching. It is a slow build, and it may not interest people who are looking for straight action the entire film, but the contrast between being ambiguous (even the ending is open to interpretation) and also presenting a thoughtful experience are worth the payoff.

#RyanGosling #heist #Action