Review of Drive (2011) by Gavin M — 20 Dec 2014

I had always wanted to watch Drive, but I didn't get around to it until recently. I don't know why I waited so long, because what I got is one of the best action films I've ever seen. It's an exciting thrill ride, but also a compelling crime drama and romance film that makes it one of the most intelligent and engaging action films to come out quite some time. It's a bold and exciting film, as well as a career-defining role for all the actors involved.

The plot focuses on a character known only as "Driver" who works by day as a stunt driver and a mechanic, but by night works as a getaway driver for criminals. Despite this pedal-to-the-medal, dangerous profession, Driver is unassuming and nobody other than close associates know of what he does.

However, his life changes when he meets his beautiful neighbor, Irene and her son. After a couple of encounters, including when Irene takes her car to the same shop Driver works at, he begins to develop an attraction for her and he begins to hang out a lot with her and her son, though things become a bit complicated when Irene's jailbird husband is released from prison. Things also get more complicated for Driver's employer, Shannon, who is having troubles with his mobster associates over a negotiation to purchase a stock car to race and are interested in Driver to be their driver, though he seems put off by these shady characters and their history with Shannon.

Despite being out of prison, Irene's husband still has run-ins with shady people who even beat him up and threaten to kill his family unless he comes up with a certain amount of money. Fearing for the welfare of Irene and her son, Driver decides to help him by pulling off a robbery of a high-end pawnshop to pay back his debts with the assistance of a woman named Blanche who is connected with the husband's associate named Cook.

While he waits out in the parking lot for Blanche and Irene's husband, a mysterious vehicle pulls up next to him, momentarily arousing his suspicion. Blanche comes out with a bag of money and gets into the car, but when Irene's husband is leaving the pawnshop, he is shot to death.

When Driver leaves the scene, the mysterious vehicle follows them resulting a chase scene where the other vehicle wrecks out. Driver and Blanche then flee to a motel room, where Driver detects something amiss and through interrogating Blanche, realizes that he and Irene's husband were set up. Shortly thereafter, gangsters attack the motel room, killing Blanche and injuring Driver, who manages to kill his attackers.

Now, Driver must figure out who set him up, while also trying to protect Irene and her son from the gangsters that are still out to get them, while untangling a web of lies and greed surrounding the gangsters involved in the crime.

The storyline, while it has familiar ideas, feels very fresh in how it presents them.

It manages to successfully blend art-house-style drama with a crime flick and an action flick resulting in a delicious and surprisingly deep storyline, complete with a fascinating and enigmatic lead character. It's a great tale of violence, greed, romance, and revenge. It's a film that manages to have both style and substance, to sum it up.

The acting is stellar across the board. Ryan Gosling certainly has come a long ways from the cheesy, but decent romance film, The Notebook. Here, he really shows off what kind of actor he can be and I like this style of his acting much better. He wowed me with his performance in The Place Beyond The Pines, and he does it again in Drive. He makes his character brooding and compelling in all the right ways, whereas most other actors would probably botch the role. He helped create one of the most interesting characters featured in an action film in a long while. The film also includes stellar actors like Bryan Cranston and Ron Perlman who are still as great as ever, though the film also features great lesser-known stars like Carey Mulligan as Irene who is very likable. I can't think of any performance that was weak.

The film features a potent blend of drama and gangster flick, but also has some of the most exciting chase scenes and brutal revenge sequences in recent memory. It's both thrilling and riveting and will please both fans of action films and art-house films. If you enjoy either types of films, this is something to watch because there's a lot to be found here.

Drive is one of the best action films of this century. With its intelligent storytelling, superb direction, beautiful visuals, stunning music, knockout performances, and thrilling sequences of action and revenge, it will surely delight fans of both action films and art-house films as it manages to combine them in an unprecedented and superb way few films ever manage to do. Or, hell, if you love great films in general, this is one to check out.