The distinct visual style and music throw you back to the late 80s-early 90s. With cars driving in the middle of night it's such a treat for people's looking for the outrun aesthetics. Albert Brooks and Ryan Gosling make interesting performance, with the eerie villainous vibe and stoic protagonist each.
However the film rests on a kinda shaky foundation.
One, It could work on the pacing a little bit more. Especially true in the first half of the film. They do not utilise the first 45 minutes to show maximally where the film stands strong - visual and music - instead they opt to portray relationship between characters in a very dragging way. Case in point: Gosling and Mulligan relationship. Both portray a not too talkative characters, especially Gosling. There are many possible ways to show the depths of interaction between the two, but the film chooses the worst, which is by showing scenes with inaudible dialogues and laughs overlayed by some corny romantic music. This is a huge missed opportunity to explore the performance of both actors.
Two, while the brutal violence is portrayed very stylistically, toward the end of the film it feels rather hollow. It is violence for the sake of violence, with thoughtless characters (who the hell ran into the ocean in a pursuit?), weak plot drive, and suddenly rushed pacing. This is very disappointing as the first brutality (after the fateful robbery) was done terrifically, with an intense atmosphere during the action.
Even for an arthouse action film (some other say neo noir thriller), Drive isn't that spectacular in this regard. Blade Runner 2049 (another film that features Gosling, still similar genre), though not without its fault, was done more masterfully.
Review by Pradipa PRBlockedParent2017-10-19T17:01:54Z
The distinct visual style and music throw you back to the late 80s-early 90s. With cars driving in the middle of night it's such a treat for people's looking for the outrun aesthetics. Albert Brooks and Ryan Gosling make interesting performance, with the eerie villainous vibe and stoic protagonist each.
However the film rests on a kinda shaky foundation.
One, It could work on the pacing a little bit more. Especially true in the first half of the film. They do not utilise the first 45 minutes to show maximally where the film stands strong - visual and music - instead they opt to portray relationship between characters in a very dragging way. Case in point: Gosling and Mulligan relationship. Both portray a not too talkative characters, especially Gosling. There are many possible ways to show the depths of interaction between the two, but the film chooses the worst, which is by showing scenes with inaudible dialogues and laughs overlayed by some corny romantic music. This is a huge missed opportunity to explore the performance of both actors.
Two, while the brutal violence is portrayed very stylistically, toward the end of the film it feels rather hollow. It is violence for the sake of violence, with thoughtless characters (who the hell ran into the ocean in a pursuit?), weak plot drive, and suddenly rushed pacing. This is very disappointing as the first brutality (after the fateful robbery) was done terrifically, with an intense atmosphere during the action.
Even for an arthouse action film (some other say neo noir thriller), Drive isn't that spectacular in this regard. Blade Runner 2049 (another film that features Gosling, still similar genre), though not without its fault, was done more masterfully.