The One and Only Ivan

The One and Only Ivan (2020)

Starring Bryan Cranston, Ramón Rodríguez, and Ariana Greenblatt

And the vocal talents of Sam Rockwell, Angelina Jolie, Danny DeVito, and Helen Mirren

Directed by Thea Sharrock

Written by Mike White

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B

The Upside

The Upside (2019)

Starring Kevin Hart, Bryan Cranston, Nicole Kidman, Tate Donovan, and Julianna Marguilies

Directed by Neil Burger

Written by Jon Hartmere

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B-

Isle of Dogs

Isle of Dogs (2018)

Featuring the vocal talents of Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Edward Norton, Bob Balaban, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Liev Schreiber, Kunichi Nomura, Greta Gerwig, Frances McDorman, Scarlett Johansson, Harvey Keitel, F. Murray Abraham, Yoko Ono, Courtney B. Vance, and Tilda Swinton

Directed by Wes Anderson

Written by Wes Anderson

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - The Inflitrator

The Infiltrator (2016)

Starring Bryan Cranston, Diane Kruger, John Leguizamo, Benjamin Bratt, Yul Vazquez, Juliet Aubry, Elena Anaya, Olympia Dukakis, and Amy Ryan

Directed by Brad Furman

***This film is currently streaming via Amazon Prime***

During the 1980s, the Medellin Cartel smuggled 15 tons of cocaine a week into the United States.  Special agent Robert Mazur (Bryan Cranston) went undercover in 1985 Tampa in order to become a trusted confidante of drug lord Pablo Escobar's men as they attempted to launder money in America.  The Infiltrator details this true story with a solid -- albeit rote -- exploration of Mazur and his intense dealings with some very bad people.

The Infiltrator doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it's not exactly a film that has to do that anyway in order to succeed. What it does need is performances that capture the audience to carry them through the type of story that we've seen before and fortunately, The Infiltrator has that in spades.  Anchored by a compelling Bryan Cranston, the central cast of Diane Kruger, John Leguizamo, and Benjamin Bratt create an atmosphere that more than makes up for the somewhat convoluted screenplay which in its opening third takes a little too long to get the ball rolling.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Trumbo

Trumbo (2015)

Starring Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Louis C.K., Elle Fanning, Michael Stuhlbarg, Alan Tudyk, and John Goodman

Directed by Jay Roach

Dalton Trumbo (played here by Bryan Cranston) was one of Hollywood's most sought after screenwriters in the early 1940s, but his Communist political leanings led him and many other Hollywood artists to be questioned by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).  After refusing to testify in front of Congress, Trumbo went to jail for a year in 1950 and, upon his release, found himself blacklisted in Hollywood with no one willing to hire him because of his politics.  Trumbo details the title character's story and his fight to get back into the profession he loved.

Director Jay Roach is known for his wacky comedies -- Austin Powers series, Meet the Parents -- and in his first theatrical foray into drama, he unfortunately doesn't quite succeed.  Trumbo feels like a film inhabited by caricatures rather than a film inhabited by actual people.  Because of this, we lose the emotional connection needed in order to really feel for Trumbo and his plight which is admittedly a blight on both our government and the Hollywood machine of the 1940s/50s.

While Bryan Cranston plays things straight for the most part -- although certainly embodying the witty, literate side of the screenwriter -- many of the other major players in the film are told to chew up as much scenery as possible.  Helen Mirren exudes snarky evilness in every line reading and movement as Hedda Hopper -- gossip columnist and strong anti-Communist activist.  While the HUAC was certainly an ill-advised group, portraying Hopper as a vigilante gung ho on bringing down Trumbo proves to be laughable as opposed to realistic.  (The problem here is that Hopper may very well have been the way she's portrayed, but the film makes her out to be so comically and vehemently vile that she loses any sense of reality.)  John Goodman as a bellowing low-budget film producer who hires Trumbo after his incarceration is also simply playing a stereotypical brash bigwig.  Other than Cranston's Trumbo and Diane Lane's portrayal of his wife Cleo, everyone depicted here feels fake.

Trumbo is reminiscent of a film made in the 1940s and 1950s where actors would be playing broad versions of undeveloped characters as opposed to a film made in the 2000s that looks back on that era over a half century ago and really delves into the issues.  Light-heartedness certainly works in a comedy depicting the 1950s and it works in portions of Trumbo as well except that this film -- and Dalton Trumbo himself -- deserved a film that also gave this man's struggles (and those of his peers) the gravitas they deserved.  All this being said, I appreciate the light that Trumbo shines on this pretty disgusting time in Hollywood history, but I wish the film itself was a better representation of the era.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Godzilla

Godzilla (2014)

Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olson, Bryan Cranston, Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, and Juliette Binoche

Directed by Gareth Edwards

Perhaps being my most eagerly anticipated film of the summer (which looks incredibly weak overall movie-wise) did Godzilla in, but I found this reinvention of the classic Japanese monster movie a pretty big disappointment.  Part of me respects the fact that director Gareth Edwards and screenwriter Max Borenstein were ballsy enough to keep the title figure off the screen for all but (seemingly) ten minutes of the film, but the other part of me can't help but think they squandered away their money shots with the creature.

However, let's just say that I'm fine with Godzilla not being the film's focal point.  That notion would be totally true if the film's centerpiece -- the humans who are facing an epic battle between Godzilla and to Mothra-esque creatures -- had any modicum of interesting storyline to latch onto.  There's actually been much talk about Aaron Taylor-Johnson (whose US solider character is the lead) and his inability to emote properly, but I found that the script didn't give him a damn thing to do.  For a film that follows this guy around and tries to make us connect with him by giving him a plotline about returning home to his wife (Elizabeth Olsen) after visiting his crazy father (Bryan Cranston) in Japan, Taylor-Johnson is in this movie solely to react to the CGI-ness of the monsters rampaging around him.  Without being the impetus of a single plot point, I found myself detached too much from his character and the story.

In the film's opening act, we are given a bit of background which admittedly does a decent job about setting up how Godzilla and these two gigantic winged creatures he fights manifested themselves thanks to radiation in the 1950s.  This is essentially where the rest of the film's cast -- Cranston, Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, and Juliette Binoche -- come into play.  Watanabe and Hawkins are here simply to elucidate the scientific goings-on, Binoche is essentially a walk-on cameo, and Cranston -- well, I'm warning you that I'm about to say something that Breaking Bad fans (myself being one of them) may find utterly sacrilegious -- overacts to a point of oddness.  Cranston's character is the first major player we meet in the film and at first, I actually thought Cranston was paying homage to the 1960s Godzilla films of yore.  However, as the film progressed, I realized that no one else was playing up the "corny factor" and that Cranston was just doing some schticky overly dramatic thing on his own accord.

If the fact that I've not talked about Godzilla much in this review seems a little odd that's because, as I already mentioned, Godzilla isn't in the flick all that much.  Once again, for me, this would've been a perfectly acceptable conceit had the humans in this story been given any type of emotional arc I could've looked to for some meatiness in terms of plot.  With that not being given to me, Godzilla ends up falling flat.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Ramblings on Breaking Bad

The Netflix era has certainly created a "binge" era of television viewing in that many of us will now find ourselves plopping down on the sofa and watching three, four, five, or six episodes of a series at a time via their streaming service.  I'd heard great things about Breaking Bad, but about two years ago I watched the first episode of the AMC series, wasn't interested in the slightest, and I subsequently dropped it from my queue.  In the build-up to the final episode of the series at the end of September, there was a huge amount of buzz, but by the time I thought about trying to give the show another try, I was never going to finish in time to watch the finale live.  Still, with the critics and, more importantly, people I know personally waxing poetically about how the show was going out on an artistic high, I succumbed to the pressure and decided to give it another go.

Boy, am I glad I did.

If only for the performance of Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad should be must-see television.  Cranston completely inhabits the role of Walter White -- reserved chemistry teacher who, upon receiving a diagnosis of seemingly terminal cancer, turns to creating crystal meth for a quick money grab in order to provide for the long-term care of his family following his death.  As Walter gets deeper and deeper into the drug world, however, he finds it much more difficult to get out...not that he actually wants to leave once he realizes how amazing he is at creating the most pure addictive drug in the country.  With addicts and their dealers clamoring to get a hold on Walter's superior product, his personality shifts from that of a shy, reserved guy into one of the most maliciously evil men portrayed on tv.  And, as a mentioned, Cranston grabs hold of this role and creates one of the best acting performances I've ever seen.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

He's certainly aided by a writing staff (presumably headed by series creator Vince Gilligan) who have crafted a sixty-two episode series that takes place over the course of only two years (and, for the most part, only over the span of one year) which allows the audience to become invested greatly in every character that comes along because their stories are given time to be fleshed out.  Whether it be drug kingpin Gus Fring's (Giancarlo Esposito) years-long revenge plot against some Mexican drug cartel members or even something as idiotic as Walt's sister-in-law Marie's (Betsy Brandt) shoplifting (a plot which admittedly could've been excised), the characters surrounding Walt were given ample opportunity to breathe for themselves.

Although I tried to steer clear of all spoilers, I was well aware of some negative buzz surrounding Anna Gunn's character of Walt's wife Skyler and I have no clue from where the anger and resentment towards her character stems.  To me, Skyler's actions and reactions upon learning of her husband's deviant behavior are justified and perfectly natural.  Yes, Walt was a character the public was able to latch onto despite his journey to the dark side, but Skyler anchored the audience back into reality and it's her reactions that made the show have great depth to this viewer.

Still, throughout the whole series I was waiting for the moment when Hank (Dean Norris), Walt's DEA brother-in-law, discovered Walt's secret life and the entirety of Season Five gave me satisfaction when it came to this, particularly the series' final eight episodes.  Despite all the dealings with drug kingpins and crack addicts, it was Walt's duplicity of hiding things from his family that really drew me in...and that moment when Hank and Marie stare at a tv screen hearing Walt's "confession" is probably my favorite moment in the show encapsulating everything I loved about it.

And I've yet to mention Aaron Paul's Jesse, a character whom I hated, then grew to like, then hated, and then grew to like again multiple times throughout the series.  Who would've thought that this low-life drug addict would end up being Breaking Bad's moral center?  Certainly not me, yet Paul gives Jesse a real intelligence that I never expected.

With all this great acting and great storytelling, I'd be remiss not to discuss the fact that the show is directed in a top-notch fashion as well.  There are shots here that rival anything you'd see in a movie and the helmers of the episodes are to be commended for that.  Also, rather randomly, I'd like to mention how much I loved the opening scenes of all the episodes that either hinted at (oftentimes horrific) things to come or were just completely odd (the montage of crack addict/prostitute Wendy selling oral pleasures to men while The Association's "Windy" played in the background is another classic moment).

Admittedly, I'm not sure I'll become invested in the upcoming/proposed "prequel" series surrounding Saul Goodman as he was actually one of my least favorite parts of the series.  Yes, his levity gave a nice counterpoint to the heaviness that surrounded him, but he's not a character I can find myself latching onto in the same way I became fascinated with Walter White.

I was talking to someone the other day about Breaking Bad and he mentioned that, like me, he watched one episode and then gave up thinking that it wasn't for him at all.  To those of you who did this same thing, you're missing out on some good tv here and it's time to give this one another chance.

Movie Review - Rock of Ages

Rock of Ages (2012)

Starring Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Malin Akerman, Mary J. Blige, Bryan Cranston, Alec Baldwin, and Tom Cruise

Directed by Adam Shankman

Movies don't get much worse than Rock of Ages, one of the most dreadful films I've seen in a long time.     There's a line in Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" which is sung two or three times in this musical that says "the movie never ends / it goes on and on and on and on," and, boy, does this movie seem an interminable mess.  I'm legitimately not sure why I watched the whole thing except to say that I knew within the first ten minutes that this was going to be the worst movie of 2012 and I needed to at least be able to have seen the movie that warranted that ignominious prize.

Somehow or another, this melange of horrible '80s rock music has been running on Broadway since 2009 and it's still going strong.  With a paper thin plot involving "small town girl" Sherrie (Julianne Hough) who moves to L.A. to make it in the music industry only to find that life is more difficult than she could have imagined, Rock of Ages throws in a bunch of perfunctory characters to try and round out the tale.  Of course, Sherrie falls in love almost immediately upon arrival with Drew (Diego Boneta), an aspiring rock star who works at the iconic rock venue The Bourbon Room run by Lonny (Russell Brand) and Dennis (Alec Baldwin) whose "witty" repartee proves groan-inducing.  The Bourbon Room is unfortunately a bit behind in paying their taxes and Dennis formulates a deal for aging rock star and nonsensical alcoholic druggie Stacie Jaxx (Tom Cruise) to play a solo performance at the establishment, much to the chagrin of the new L.A. mayor (Bryan Cranston) and his bitchy wife Patricia (Catherine Zeta-Jones), the latter of whom is on a mission to "sanitize" the city by ridding it of its bars and strip clubs.

But since bars, strip clubs, alcohol, and rock and roll are totally tubular (there's an '80s term that thankfully faded), screw the government and rock on!  At least, that's what we're supposed to feel.  Instead, I just longed for this movie to come to a close.  Filled with some of the worst performances of the year (Mary J. Blige should never get another acting job after this), there's nothing even remotely positive to latch onto.  I thought maybe Tom Cruise who is certainly taking on a different role in Stacie Jaxx than we've seen from him before might at least provide some amusement in hamming it up for the screen, but instead I just felt bad for him to be involved in this dreck.  The two leads in Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta actually come out of this the most unscathed simply because their characters were the most "normal," and despite looking all doe-eyed and innocent for much of the film, neither were given embarrassing moments to undertake like the rest of their fellow cast members.

Director Adam Shankman who did a rather brilliant job with the amusing and cheerful Hairspray several years ago should've known better.  The film jolts back and forth between its various characters too much and the musical numbers are filmed rather blandly, lacking any imagination or creativity.  I don't think you could pay me enough money to watch Rock of Ages again.  Painful...just painful...

The RyMickey Rating:  F

Movie Review - Argo

Argo (2012)

Starring Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Victor Garber, Tate Donovan, Clea Duvall, Scoot McNairy, Rory Cochrane, Christopher Denham, and Kerry Bishé

Directed by Ben Affleck

Having been born in 1980 and having taken very few (if any) "modern" history courses, I'm feeling moderately okay with the fact that I know very little about the Iran Hostage Crisis beyond the fact that "it happened."  I realize this is an irrational justification...I should know about this...but I don't.  Having said that, the story behind Argo wasn't even fully known until 1997 when President Bill Clinton declassified the information behind the release of six Americans from Iran who were previously thought to have been freed solely due to Canadian ingenuity.  The truth is that the release of the hostages was formulated much more thanks to US creativity, but the joint effort between the two countries was nothing short of amazing...and also kind of crazy.  Were this a fictional movie, you'd never believe it possible, but considering this actually happened, it's fascinatingly riveting.

Without going into the brief history lesson at the beginning of the film, let's just jump into the fact that in 1979, the US Embassy in Iran was overtaken and fifty-two Americans were taken hostage for over 444 days.  Argo is not their story, however.  Instead, Ben Affleck's film focuses upon six Americans who escaped the embassy and found a safe haven at the Canadian consulate.  Finding themselves forced to stay hidden, they quickly come down with a case of cabin fever with nowhere to turn.

Back in the States, our government is under pressure from Canada to get the Americans out of their embassy as Ambassador Ken Taylor (Victor Garber) is finding it increasingly difficult to keep his "houseguests" out of Iranian sight.  CIA exfiltration expert Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) is called in by his boss Jack O'Donnell (Bryan Cranston) to try and figure out how to safely remove the hostages when every other CIA plan proves inadequate.  Mendez concocts a crazy notion to create a fake movie with the help of a Hollywood producer (Alan Arkin) and a make-up artist (John Goodman) that plans on shooting in Iran.  With a background story in place, Mendez heads into Iran posing as a Canadian film producer with the intent of getting the six hostages safely back home.

I think first and foremost praise for Argo's success needs to be heaped upon director Ben Affleck.  Affleck proved himself competent in the overrated though good Gone Baby Gone in 2007 and further showed his talent in the tense and taut The Town in 2010.  Neither of those films showed the deft hand he puts in place in Argo, though.  The last hour of this film flies by like no other movie I've seen this year (which is certainly, in part, due to the excellent script by Chris Terrio [in his debut!] which balances the severity of the rescue attempt with the sheer ridiculousness of the real life plot).  Amazingly crafted, Affleck is a talent behind the camera and this film shows it.  This is a smart thriller that had me biting my nails for the final thirty minutes.

Still, where Affleck proves his worth (as he has in all his films thus far) is in his way of pulling together incredibly talented actors and getting them to give great performances.  Argo continues this trend without a doubt.  A veritable "Who's Who" of "I've Seen That Guy Before," everyone here is working together as an ensemble.  No single person towers over another including Affleck who certainly has the lead role.  Ultimately, this may work to the film's disadvantage come Oscar time because I'm not really sure any one person stands out enough to warrant awards attention, but as an ensemble they are simply amazing.  Kudos certainly need to go to the six hostages -- Tate Donovan, Clea Duvall, Scoot McNairy, Rory Cochrane, Christopher Denham, and Kerry Bishé -- who find the perfect balance between relief that they found a safe home at the Canadian embassy to neurosis that they may never get back home alive.

Argo is a thrilling drama aimed at smart adults and the director at its helm deserves credit for its success.  I am well-known for looking at my watch during movies, but as I mentioned above, Argo flew by and that is always a success in my book...and it's also my first "A" rating of the year.

The RyMickey Rating: A

Movie Review - John Carter

John Carter (2012)

Starring Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds, Daryl Sabara, and Bryan Cranston

Directed by Andrew Stanton

While John Carter may not be worthy of the ridicule that came its way thanks to its extremely high budget and disappointing box office returns, this Andrew Stanton-directed picture was already at a disadvantage in my book as its premise simply isn't up my alley in the slightest (remember, you're talking about the guy who's never seen Star Wars and likely never will).  Ultimately, the film's biggest problem is that there's way too much story here for 130 minutes.  We've got introductions to multiple alien races, at least two civil wars amongst rivaling sanctions on the planet we know as Mars (but known to the natives as Barsoom), and, perhaps the most intriguing aspect (yet least focused upon) that some Civil War-era American has been transported to Mars and rather nonchalantly becomes the savior of some of Barsoom's peoples.

I could delve into more plot, but if I did it'd just take too long, so that last sentence in the above paragraph will have to do.  That said, that last sentence is really the reason the film isn't successful.  I understand that this was likely setting up any future films (that will now never happen), but I'm still not sure why there was a need to place so many different plotlines into this first movie.  If anything, these various storylines fight for prominence and oftentimes become incomprehensible due to the plot's overly ambitious nature.  Ultimately, the fault lies in the director and co-screenwriter Andrew Stanton (to whom this was a pet project for years) for failing to either simplify (or at the very least condense) the various plotlines to create something a bit more enjoyable to watch.

I should say, though, that for Stanton's first foray into live action, he does a fine job in terms of creating an aesthetically pleasing landscape and he has quite an eye for mixing humor and action especially at the beginning of the film.  And, given the enormity of the plot he tries to present, the film's pacing is actually decent.  But in the end, there's simply too much story where there doesn't need to be.

Taylor Kitsch is fine, but bland, as the title character.  He's given very little to do despite being in nearly every scene.  I had hoped his character would've been given a little more emotional oomph considering this American got mystically transported to Mars, but after an amusing few minutes of Carter getting used to differences in gravity, the character almost acts as if this new planet is nothing he hasn't seen before.  The rest of the acting is par for the course.  Nothing exceptional, but about what is to be expected in a sci-fi/fantasy flick.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Contagion

Contagion (2011)

Starring Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Ehle, John Hawkes, Sanaa Lathan, and Elliot Gould

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

Contagion is a modern-day version of those 70s "classics" like Earthquake and The Towering Inferno.  Let's put a bunch of well-known actors into a plot, throw in a natural disaster, and see who makes it out alive.  Unlike those special effects-laden films of a few decades ago, however, Contagion is actually good.  

Really good.  

And genuinely frightening.  I do think that, in the end, Steven Soderbergh's thriller about a new strain of deadly virus wreaking havoc on the world hopes that it feels "important."  And while it certainly paints a rather grim picture of what would happen should such an incident occur, I can't help but think it seems more "fluffy" than "substantial," but that's certainly not a bad thing in this case because it still succeeds at nearly every level.

The film opens on a black screen with the sound of someone coughing.  And already the mood is ominous.  We discover (thanks to a subtitle on the screen) that we are in Day 2 of this new viral outbreak and we see the young and vibrant Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) sitting at an airport bar talking on the phone with a man whom she just slept with.  All seems fine...except then we realize that Beth is the person whom we heard coughing mere seconds ago.  And Soderbergh makes it very clear via his directorial choices that Beth is passing this thing along to others -- the close up of the bowl of peanuts that she just ate from, the handing of a credit card to the bartender.  We're in for trouble and Soderbergh isn't hiding that from us.  The very fact that he makes these incredibly mundane things manage to appear so scary is a credit to him.

From there, the film branches off into various storylines -- some following "normal" citizens like Beth and her husband (Matt Damon), with others focusing on members of the Centers for Disease Control and their attempts to discover the origins of the virus (which is where folks like Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, and Marion Cotillard come into play).  Never staying with any of these plotlines for extended periods of time allows the viewer to never tire of any of them and always keep them longing for more.  Much like the disaster flicks of the 70s, no one is safe here.  Big stars (all of whom perform very well here) are going to bite the dust and this certainly increases the nerves that the viewer feels.

Admittedly, the film is bogged down with the character of Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law), a blogger who says that he will show the public the truth behind the secrets that the government and the CDC are hiding.  Anytime the plot veered into his territory, I kept wanting it to head to someone else.  His conspiracy theories just didn't seem well developed and, quite frankly, bored me (as most ludicrous conspiracy theories do).  Fortunately, as stated, the film doesn't stay on any one character for long and we find the plot quickly shifting to others.

Still, despite that one fault, I couldn't help but find myself absolutely enthralled by Contagion.  On the edge of my seat thanks to Soderbergh's creative direction, this is a completely believable real-life horror story the likes of which I hope we never see actually happen even though it positively could.  Time to grab that hand sanitizer...

The RyMickey Rating:  A-

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