Probably one of the best starting points if you want to get into arthouse cinema.
You’re getting a fairly basic, straightforward genre film balancing crime, thriller, drama and romance, combined with the arthouse sensibilities of NWR. So it’s not trying to be Fast and Furious, but it’s a well written movie with a strong emotional core. Familiar ideas that are clearly inspired by the films of the 70s (such as Taxi Driver), but they don't feel familiar because of how they're presented. Aesthetically, however, this movie is much more inspired by the decade that came after that, and it’s easily its biggest selling point. The cinematography is extremely well done, and the score is terrific. This movie revived synthwave before it started to dominate in popular music again and it inspired the soundtrack of films like It Follows and The Guest.
The acting’s superb and the choices made by the actors inform a lot about the characters, tension is constantly building, honestly I don’t see how anyone could find it boring or slow. If you can appreciate filmmaking, acting and creativity, and don't need commercial bombast to create an artificial sense of story movement, you'll probably like this. It doesn’t quite have the depth to warrant a 10, but it’s pretty close.
9/10
So few dialogues give the film a great personality, until now I have not seen a film that has the same style. The cinematography, on the other hand, doesn't go that far, but it's decent. It has good shots and excellent scenes and, together with the script, they all help to tell things with very little.
The big problem with Nicolas Winding's film is that it completely lacks substance. It is undeniable that the style has left the film on top, but when you repeat the film about three times you realize that neither the story nor the characters are going anywhere. The first half of Drive is a romance story, the second half is about gangsters; the film doesn't quite decide what it wants to be and doesn't achieve anything on either side. When you know that no character has relevance beyond being a plot device to advance the story, you will stop caring after the first twenty minutes.
Drive has nothing to tell on a narrative level, it has no message like "(500) Days Of Summer" nor does it leave an impact like "Hard Candy." The only impact it has is its style, which, without detracting from it, is very good and not every film has a personality as marked as this one has.
I give Drive a light 7.
I wanted to like this movie more than I did. It's critically acclaimed; it was arguably the first cult classic of the 2010s. The cast is stellar, especially Oscar Isaacs and Albert Brooks. Isaacs in his ten or so minutes of screen time brings charisma and sympathy to what could've been a very one note and stereotypical role. And Brooks plays to perfection a man who never wanted things to reach this point and holds no ill will towards the Driver and friends for having the bad luck to all into this situation, but will not hesitate to finish this. And yet the film still didn't enthrall me.
It is a well crafted film in many areas. The soundtrack is gorgeous. There are some inspired choices made with the cinematography that took my breath away. When Irene deals with the news of her husband's death, her hue is grey and lifeless. When she kisses the Driver, she glows, iridescent. There's the Driver's face gazing longingly across the screen, cut simultaneously with his last phone call with Irene. The shot of the Driver, face splattered in blood and his eyes shifting into cold determination realizing what he has to do, slinking out of frame and into the shadows as he turns from prey to predator is striking. And the Driver stalking down the man who caused this all on the beach, face covered in an expressionless mask, only briefly illuminated by the lighthouse as he nears closer and the synths blare is a moment that'd stand with any slasher movie. And yet I still did not love this movie.
I think ultimately, this film doesn't come together for me. By the end, I see its point- there is no glamor to this, no matter what the neon lights, pounding synths, and beautiful aesthetics tell you. A father is dead. A sad man bleeds out in his garage. The violence is not a cathartic rush of adrenaline, but quick and passionless executions. There's no shooting out of your seat and hollering, and there's no triumph at the end of the Driver's fight. He's lost his one chance at normalcy. There was no point to all of this, as reinforced by the story of the Scorpion and the Frog, alluded to throughout by the scorpion jacket Driver is adorned in. The frog was willing to get them all through the river and do his job, if the scorpions were only willing to trust him. But by striking instead, they've only doomed them all. Looking at it from a distance, it all comes together.
But when I zoom in, much rings hollow. The romance between the Driver and Irene feels limp and tepid, devoid of chemistry. This is a fatal flaw when the Driver explicitly says the time spent with her and her son was the best time of his life; this is his motivation for everything he does, but I don't believe in it. Driver becomes friends with the husband almost instantaneously to make his death hit harder, but it comes off forced. The film relies on one montage buoyed by (the admittedly fantastic) track A Real Hero to do the work, and it isn't enough. The scenes with them are a slog.
Ryan Gosling, too, is a weak link. There are moments when he works, mainly the aforementioned times he goes all out slasher, detached and clinical as he works his way through the men who've caused this. The despair and anger and self-disgust on his trembling face in the elevator scene is such a chilling moment that you understand completely why Irene breaks away from him. But those moments come far too sparingly, and in between Gosling is less Michael Myers, less a ice cold surface hiding a broken machine trying and failing to function in this world and more a half baked Byronic hero. He does too many long looks and too many small smiles meant to give a sense of romance to him, and it leaves me cold. As soon as Oscar Isaac showed up, I was wishing he was the star instead, which isn't a good sign.
Drive is a film that looks pretty, and it seems pretty great from a bird's eye view. But with a closer look, the pieces crash against each other instead of coalescing. Still worth a watch for some great songs, some immaculate shots, and a great soundtrack, but it falls short of a classic, cult or otherwise, in my eyes.
Day 6 of Ryan Gosling Binge
" "
Deep.
This is probably my favourite Ryan Gosling performance by far. Just his body language alone is enough to pass the message, Ryan does a great job at portraying this stoic masculine character. Supported by the other cast members also give us solid performances. The blend of synth pop and the electric score provides a better experience for the viewers which beautifully compliments the premise and the theme of the movie which is accompanied by a some good camerawork and cinematography.
There are some issues for me here, although Ryan nailed it, his character wasn't really well written. Most of the time he just stares blankly and it was a bit too over the top, it was fine when he did it first, and then he did it again it was okay, but he over did the "silent treatment" which became a bit awkward.
Overall a stylish and an engaging film that showcases a wide variety of genres in one movie.
Drive- 8.3/10
Ryan Gosling- 8.2/10
The Five Faces of DRIVE
:heart_eyes:
The whole opening sequence and first getaway is almost entirely without dialogue. Ryan Gosling (La La Land, 2016) does an amazing job at conveying emotions and messages with facial expressions, while sound effects and police radio carry the sequence forward. It's clever visual filmmaking by visionary director Nicolas Winding Refn (Valhalla Rising, 2009).
The somewhat old-school electronic score by Cliff Martinez (Only God Forgives, 2013) fits the dark and depressing atmosphere of the film perfectly.
Ryan Gosling puts in a very low-key performance, arguably on par with his amazing performance in La La Land. He even keeps his expressions at bay, which makes him seem distant and cold - it fits Winding Refn's world perfectly.
Carey Mulligan (Never Let Me Go, 2010) marks the perfect counterpart to Gosling's few-worded protagonist; happy, expressive and sweet. Their on-screen relationship feels warm and relatable from its first budding moments.
Ron Perlman (Hellboy, 2004) gives another furiously wonderful performance.
Winding Refn's strengths lie in the character directing as well as the violence. He somehow manages to make the bloody parts look fashionably clean.
:smiley:
There are several long moments with total silence. These become opportunities for the actors to truly make said moments feel uneasy. Through most of these scenes you can clearly feel the uneasy situation of the characters.
Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, 2008-2013) and *Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina, 2014) make up a largely redundant supporting cast, but at least their performances are a joy to watch.
There are some sudden spurs of violent action, and even if they bizarrely form the most interesting parts of the movie, they are too few and far between to really make an impact. When looking at the story progression, from the slower first half to the more tense second, Drive reminds me of Taxi Driver (1976).
The second half is like a totally different film - Gosling's performance becomes more expressive, the music turns more dramatic and the stakes suddenly become sky-high. It's almost too much to take in at the same time.
:neutral_face:
Drive is a slow and intelligent thriller, much like most of director Denis Villeneuve's movies. But unlike his movies, Drive doesn't create or keep up any tension that would make it interesting.
The second half suddenly turns up the volume on tension and violence, and it feels like a desperate attempt to keep the viewer interested since there is so little build-up during the first hour.
The ending is just as low-key and empty as most of the rest of the movie, and still somehow manages to feel disappointing.
:frowning2:
The story is simple and takes its fair share of time to soar somewhere up in the clouds. It barely goes anywhere and never truly handles the subject matter so promisingly put forth in the introduction.
The film fails to build up tension that would make the faster parts feel exciting. Even the more tense parts feel sluggish thanks to Winding Refn's artistic vision and the low-key performances.
It feels like the script totally scraps the ideas it's spinning during the first half of the film to focus on things that have only barely been hinted at.
While visionary in several ways and definitely watchable for its acting, Drive feels like a film with nothing real to say. It's not deeply political like Taxi Driver, unsettling like Nightcrawler (2014) or exhilarating and original like Baby Driver (2017). It just is.
:face_vomiting:
//
The Final Face: :smiley: // Good
“Drive” is a contemplative but somehow concise film that limits the chitchat to the absolute minimum and lets the images talk instead. Every frame, every line is carefully thought to be functional to the story. The relaxed pacing and hypnotic retro aesthetics lull the audience only to suddenly wake them up with bursts of graphic violence. The structure reflects Ryan Gosling’s character: a solitary and taciturn figure who acts quiet and distant, but at the same time doesn’t mind resorting to violence when needed. The character is partly inspired by Walter Hill’s “The Driver”, a getaway driver who also happens to have no name or known background. He looks like some kind of western outlaw hero at first, but eventually doesn’t seem to follow a clear moral code. He might just be a crazed misfit who happened to have enjoyed the pleasures of human contact for once. For some reason I am not a big fan of Gosling’s acting, but his performance grows on you as the film goes by.
Cinematographically elegant and sophisticated and backed up by an undeniably chic synth-pop soundtrack, “Drive” became one of the films that dictated the trend for independent filmmakers of this generation. It’s also Nicolas Winding Refn’s most appreciated film as, unlike his later work, manages to be formally impeccable without lacking substance. Much more entertaining and than I remembered.
well ... I haven't written reviews of trakt for a long time, but not this time, I decided to do it because SPECIFICALLY this film was met on trakt quite controversially, usually if a film has a rating above 70%, then reviews are mostly positive, negative there are either no reviews, or they are quite few. In the case of Drive, the situation is different, out of 3 reviews, two will be positive, and 1 negative, which means that the film caused conflicting feelings in people. But not about that now, I came to express an opinion about the film, but personally I treat the film negatively and I don't understand where the film has 7.8 points on imdb. Personally, the film seemed very boring to me, the first 40 minutes were well, very dull, something more or less interesting started after 40 minutes, but what started after this segment of the interesting was sometimes interrupted by rather boring dialogues. As for the acting, I can say little, although I watched in the original with subtitles Ryan Gosling played rather poorly, I think he played the whole film with the same face, something like a "serious poker face". However, one cannot deny the advantages of this film, and they are, well, the first thing that comes to mind is, of course, the soundtrack, it is cool and quite suitable for the style of the film, you can listen to it separately from the film, which I recommend to you, the second plus is pretty good cinematography, the film after 8-9 years looks pretty good, well, and probably the third plus is editing, here they also tried. Overall, I'm disappointed, when I started watching a movie called Drive I thought it would be faster, and I expected a better acting from Gosling. Well, I say hello to all those who have read the review to the end, but this does not make sense since there are no those who have read the review to the end.
P.S: I apologize for the mistakes, as I translated via google translator.
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 DeletedBlockedParent2016-01-09T04:23:00Z
Drive, by Nicolas Winding... Raf-n I'm surprised that some American audiences thought this movie wasn't very fast paced, because to me, this movie isn't dull in the slightest. The pacing is decently fast, especially when comparing to other movies I really like from 2011.
Anyway, it's fun to watch, and stylised as all hell with Refn's signature all over this . Both the font choices, and the soundtrack help give an 80s feel to a present-day story, and when the action happens in this movie, you sure as hell notice it. Ryan Gosling does a fantastic job playing the quiet, but ultimately intimidating, main character.
The shot placement was superb and the cinematography for the action and dramatic scenes were shot incredibly well. If you don't believe me, Check out Tony Zhou of "Every Frame a Painting" to really understand the story of how this movie is framed. The supporting actors were good as well and the child actor was actually not horrible.
And this movie super fun to watch, so check it out with your friends to really get the best experience possible. Remember, this is not like the "Fast and the Furious" movies, Its methodical and WAY better made.