Review of Drive (2011) by Sleeper — 09 Oct 2011

"Drive" is different. It's a modern western with extremely violent death scenes. It reminded me of Sergio Leone's westerns with the nameless hero at center, cleaning up the mess left behind by very bad people.

While Eastwood's Blondie was a silent type without expression, but still likeable, Gosling's nameless hero is pretty silent, but impressively expressive at the same time. He goes through all the motions with real emotion, and even though none of his back story appears, we know that he has a dark past that has driven him into the underworld, into hiding from something terrible, something that always comes back to haunt him. Albert Brooks is surprisingly effective as a cold, cold bastard. I admit getting a little tired of Carey Mulligan, that sweet wife with the sweet kid, and an unfortunate husband. However, I understood why she was important. The characters seemed emotionally invested in each other, which added context to the action. And what an action. The driving was not disappointing, nor the heavy brutality of the killings, which were just as ugly as brutal as killings must be. Nothing attractive about the violence in this film.

When watching Ryan Gosling, I feel there is finally an actor comparable with the great Jimmy Stewart. He can both act sweet and cruel, desperate and calm, and at every moment believable. Without Gosling, this would have been just another action movie about a loner seeking justice in an unjust world.