Drive (2011)

Rating: 18
Director: Nicholas Winding Refn
Screenplay: Hossein Amini
Genre: Crime/Action/Thriller/Drama
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston.

Nicholas Winding Refn is slick and scandalous, delivering us a faithfully brutal adaptation of the tenacious novel Drive, by James Sallis. Like the book, the movie follows Gosling as the quiet hero and unnamed Driver as he works multiple jobs as a car mechanic, a Hollywood stuntman and a driver for criminal getaways, attempting to forget his supposedly shameful past. From the word go, there is a dragged out tension and silent ticking-of-clock as Driver waits in a car for what feels like six hundred and forty years. Gosling effectively demonstrates Driver’s cool-as-cucumber nature as he waits for what turn out to be masked robbers to return, but we, the audience, are rigid with anxiety. The silence is ground-breaking, and never really ceases throughout the whole movie, offering us relentless mind games and the occasional need to pee (which is a strong recommendation given the length of the film).

Luckily for this picture, one of its strengths is Cliff Martinez’s eerie, electronic soundtrack that almost makes up for the lack of dialogue - especially between neighbour and future love interest, Carey Mulligan’s compelling Irene, which can only be described as somewhat awkward. You find yourself hissing and growing frustrated. “SAY SOMETHING!” you scream, and speak they do, but it’s nothing too memorable or important. The significance is when Driver in his sleek bomber jacket and suave nibbling-of-tooth-pick eats in a diner, and snaps at a past client after the Father of Irene’s child, Standard, (Oscar Isaac) is released from prison. Suddenly the mood shifts. The irritating silence can only be described as a tired hiker climbing Everest, and this moment is the peak. The tender and fascinating hero we were all rooting for a few minutes ago isn’t as platonic as we all expected, and at last, the movie has gripped us.
The only humour here is from the ridiculously unrealistic blood splats and shrieks of horror (given by the sadly under-cast Christina Hendricks) as Driver sets out to help Standard in order to save Irene (we all knew they weren’t just neighbourly) and her little boy, smart and cute Benicio (Kaden Leos). Driver is still our hero, only this time, he’s less Nicholas Cage and more Al Pacino. That scorpion-printed bomber jacket wasn’t for nothing.
Bryan Cranston is funny and endearing as the sidekick all action movies need, so his death adds the sentimentality that the movie attempts to achieve but fails in areas. Ron Perlman and Albert Brooks are more of a comedy act than a gangster villain duo, but Drive can afford minor mistakes. It is a masterpiece with frayed edges, and yet, the picture still stands.  Nicholas Winding Refn is sleek and subtle with a camera lens. With Gosling, the two of them provide us with a successful crime thriller that is slick, brutal and intense. Drive takes us on a road that has never been ventured down. The ride is tiresome and impatient yet once the pivotal point has been reached , we are thoroughly enthralled.