More than it appears to be

Rating: 8/10 (29 January 2012)

When I was a bit younger I would valiantly work my way through almost every recommended film that came my way, regardless of genre or plot. But as I have gotten older, and time available has gotten smaller, I find myself lacking the patience for the more unconventional genres, or stories that don't interest me. When I read about this film it did not interest me one bit, and it held the promise of being unconventional, so I let it slide for quite a while. Despite awesome reviews and friends telling me it was the best thing they had seen in ages.
It's about a stuntman who also moonlights as a getaway driver. He falls in love with a girl, but she has an ex-husband who is in trouble with some gangster. As this becomes a threat to the girl and her son, our stuntman offers to help, but everything goes wrong. The idea that it was about a stuntman made me think about the tedious encounter I had with Tarantino's Death Proof. And the entire gangster genre has in my mind just spawned too many films. One grows tired of it. Yet, after many months of hesitation, I finally decided to sit down with this film, thinking that it might yet prove to be worth my time, and I am glad to say it did.
One thing I liked about this movie, was the fact that we never learn the name of our hero, and we never learn anything about his past. A bit like in the film Taken, with Liam Neeson, we first perceive him as quite a vulnerable type, but as the plot unfolds we learn, in part through some quite violent scenes, that we underestimated him, and possibly what kind of movie this is. It catches you quite off guard and serves to make the character even more mystifying and interesting. As for his relationship to the girl, this is one of those few films were two characters say very little to each other, but still manage to convey romance.
Apart from Taken, one could also compare Drive to films like Heat and Taxi Driver. Like these films, Drive has a wonderful cinematography, set mostly in the dark lit streets of LA. It has an astonishing soundtrack, which renders the film a melancholic backdrop that it needs in order for us to take it seriously. Without the artistic framework this film would have been a mediocre thriller. So, if you are like me, and have your doubts about whether or not to see this film, for one reason or another, my tip is to give it a chance, especially if you enjoyed films such as Heat or Taxi Driver. I also compared it to Taken, but despite having a somewhat similar story, Drive is a much darker and deeper film, and having love for Taken does not automatically make this a film for you.