Synopsis:
By day a hollywood stunt driver and mechanic, by night a getaway driver for hire, The Driver is loner who romantically falls for his neighbour Irene. When her husband returns from prison he has debts to pay and needs The Driver's help to pay them. But what appears to be a routine pawn shop robbery turns nasty as the Driver gets caught up in the LA underworld and must fight to protect himself and the ones he loves.
Let me start by saying
that this film not winning any BAFTAs the other week is just
criminal. I mean, I'm sure the Artist was great, and it'll be
reviewed here soon enough I'm sure, but it certainly hogged the
limelight that night and how any film from 2011 could be better than
Drive is beyond me. It wasn't pretentiousness, it didn't have
unbelievable action sequences and CGI, and most importantly, it
wasn't in 3D. What it was on the other hand, was a breath of fresh
air! It was just a great film.
The first half contains
some of the most stylish film making I've ever seen. I was sat oh so
very comfortably in the neo-noir LA setting, just watching the Driver
do his thing. To put it as simply as possible, from the lighting to
the framing of shots, it's just insanely cool. The way in which the
Driver holds himself, acts and moves, in fact the way he does
anything makes you emphatically root for him. It's probably because
he's so quiet and introverted, but has that dark side. Girls want
him, guys want to be like him. He's a bad boy with a heart, if not
slightly Autistic if you ask me, obsessed with all things cars until
he meets his neighbour, played by the very impressive and on the rise
Carey Mulligan. A massive thumbs up for Ryan Gosling who gives such
a loner type character this much soul and depth with such little
dialogue to work with. I'm not a fan of the double denim he wears but
i'll let that slide.
The second half of the
film kind of goes down another route. It becomes action heavy, even
gory! I would normally say a film of two halves would be a bad route
to go down, because it means that one half will probably be better
than the other and the narrative may become disjointed. However, this
film is so drilled into its stylish noir core that you welcome the
change and embrace it with open arms. Not to mention you will be sat
at the edge of your seat. And trust me, you WILL be sat at the edge
of your seat, waiting for the next thing that WILL make you swear out
loud as it really is THAT awesome. Now I don't want to spoil anything
here and tell you what happens, but I will say this; If there were
BAFTA awards for Best Head-Shot, Bitch-Slap and Mud Hole Stomping,
Drive wouldn't walk away with the wins, but drive away in the sexiest
car you've ever seen.
Now the flaws... oh...
oh wait... there are none. Not for me anyway. Maybe if you picked
this up thinking it was going be a racing movie (and for a moment I
was worried they were going to go down that route), or that it will
contain a load of action packed driving sequences, then maybe you'd
have reason to be disappointed. But this is no mindless Fast and
Furious flick. There are car chases of course, each one masterfully
put together, but this film is so classy it kind of evolves beyond
the pointless explosions and NOS-injections, the rumble of the
Driver's engine enough to set a tone which places it on a level
beyond any driving film ever mad. I'm sorry but that's as critical
as I can be. This isn't a car film, it's a straight-up gangster film,
and it ends a gangster film. By it's climax, there are no flashy
chases, no races against time, just raw, stylish brutality. Perfect.
Overview:
One of the best films
going. It's just awesome. In fact stop reading this review, go out
and buy the best looking film of the decade. Don't download it or
rent it, or borrow it from a friend. The makers of this film deserve
your money, plus the DVD case is oh so very sexy... jus' sayin.
Rating:
★★★★★
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