Review of Drive (2011) by Keep_Yr_Bias — 18 Apr 2012

It's been a long time since I saw a movie that I fell in love with like this. The movie grabbed a hold of me immediately; the opening sequence in this movie is one of the greatest beginnings to any movie I've ever seen.

It's extremetly suspenseful, and you can feel the tension through the entire 15 minute scene. This is the way a "driving" movie should be, not that cornball Fast Five bulls***. Once this scene ends, the real story gets underway.

Ryan Gosling plays the "Driver". As his character puts it, (and I'm paraphrasing), "You have me for 5 minutes. If anything happens in that 5 minutes I'm yours. After that, I'm gone.

I don't carry a gun, I drive." He's a VERY quiet character, and I have no doubt that the biggest reason people may not like this movie is because of this. There are some long scenes with no action and very little dialogue.

It sounds odd on paper, but it works beautifully. The director (Nicolas Winding Refn) does a terrific job of creating an atmosphere, or a mood to convey the emotion of the characters. The actors do a great job of backing up his vision as well, as they can covery their emotions very well despite having limited lines to work with.

Most of these scenes happen immediately following the opening sequence, and helps introduce and develop the characters. Gosling starts to fall for the girl next door and her young son. He learns that her husband is in prison, but when he unexpectedly is released early, Gosling is silently devastated.

This may sound like a love movie, but s*** hits the fan when Gosling finds the husband bloodied and beaten by gangsters looking to collect protection money from him while he was in prison. The husband confides that he won't do the job they want him to do, but is considering it because the gangsters have threatened that they'll come for his wife and son next time.

Gosling decides he will step in to be the getaway driver on the job, and from there on out the movie turns into a high octane thriller. There is an insane amount of violence in the 2nd half of the movie, so this movie isn't for the squeamish.

I won't say much more, because it may ruin the experience. That's essentially what this movie is.... an experience like nothing I've seen before. When's the last time you've seen a suspense/drama/thriller/love/crime/driving movie with a bad a$$ 80's synth pop soundtrack? That's right.

.. never. This movie is completely original, and I'll even go as far as to call it a classic. This movie will hold up VERY well over time. If you don't like it, go watch Fast Five or Transformers or Twilight, you cornballs.