Movie Review - Drive

Drive (2011)

Starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Oscar Isaac, and Albert Brooks 

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn

There's a low budget B-movie noirish vibe that I got while watching Drive, the latest film by director Nicolas Winding Refn whose Bronson I appreciated in 2009 (and is available to stream on Netflix for those interested).  Ubiquitous Ryan Gosling plays the main character, a man with no name who is a movie stunt car driver and garage mechanic during the day and a getaway-car-driver-for-hire by night.  As the film opens, the Driver (as heretofore Gosling's character will be called as that is how imdb lists him) is in the midst of a crime in progress.  Seemingly calm, cool, and collected, the Driver never appears to break a sweat even when he's being tailed by police cars and helicopters, and, sure enough, he completes the getaway without any problems.

On the surface, the Driver is oddly emotionless, but when he meets the lovely Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her cute son Benicio, it's obvious that despite the stolid face and the lack of expressive words, the Driver is growing to care for the two of them.  When Irene's husband Standard (Oscar Isaac) is released from prison, he still finds himself needing to repay his debts to his former criminal friends.  The Driver agrees to help Standard by being his getaway car driver in a robbery in order to keep Irene and Benicio out of harm's way.  From there, things begin to spiral out of control for the typically sedate Driver as he finds himself caught up in an imbroglio the likes of which he hasn't seen before.

Like many noirs, a woman leads to the main character's potential downfall and this is the case here as well with Carey Mulligan's Irene.  Much like the Driver, Irene is calm, pensive, and a lady of few words.  One has to wonder what led her down the path to marry the rough-edged Standard, but considering the fact that she's also obviously attracted to the less-than-angelic Driver, maybe it shouldn't be too surprising.  Mulligan plays things subdued, but is positively charming and tender.

The subdued nature of the acting carries over to Gosling as well who manages to relay all he needs to via his facial expressions seeing as how dialog is not the Driver's strong suit.  Taking on a completely different role from his last film Crazy, Stupid, Love, Gosling is truly the actor to watch right now.  He's a confident actor who seems to be right at home in his role here as a nice guy with slightly shady tendencies.

In the end, though, if you notice a lack of excitement in this review of Drive, it's because I have an overall general lack of excitement for the film.  Drive is a good film, but it's not as good as the raves would lead you to believe.  The tremendous buzz over Albert Brooks' role as a seedy criminal mastermind is groundless, in my opinion.  Like the film itself, Brooks was fine, but nothing rave-worthy.  Yes, the chase scenes are well shot, the film exudes a smart arthousey vibe which I enjoyed, and I never once found that the film lagged or felt boring (as was the major complaint I've heard from the haters of this movie).  Still, the film just didn't rouse me the way the "best" movies are wont to do.

The RyMickey Rating:  B