Stylish, brutal thriller with little actual driving - 82%

Rating: 8/10 (10 February 2014)

Just occasionally, a film comes along and does its best to stump me. Not through a convoluted plot but more because I struggle to understand precisely what the film is trying to say. Maybe it's me being a bit thick but this is one film that works very hard to break free from normal Hollywood conventions and has me scratching my head. It's an easy film to admire - very well made, a killer electro-pop soundtrack and stacked with actors giving quality performances in a classic noir tale - but I can't help feel like I've missed something.
Pretty-boy Ryan Gosling plays an unnamed stunt driver based in LA who doubles-up as a getaway driver for Hollywood's criminal element. Maintaining an air of enigmatic mystery, he begins a relationship with his neighbour, waitress Irene (Carey Mulligan), and her son (Kaden Leos). But when the boy's father Standard (Oscar Isaac) is released from prison, he identifies the driver as a fellow professional and ropes him in to help him with robbing a pawn shop. But it quickly descends into a violent battle of wits against mobsters Nino (Ron Perlman) and Bernie (Albert Brooks), a battle that the driver seems destined to lose...
Anyone expecting a rip-off of "The Fast & The Furious" will be deeply annoyed because "Drive" is way more cerebral than any of that series. In fact, there aren't many driving sequences in the film although what is in there is brilliantly shot and have a old-fashioned, visceral feel to them. "Drive" is more about the characters than the cars - take any of the scenes where Mulligan is making gooey-eyes at Gosling where dialogue is forsaken and stark lighting illuminates their faces like passing street-lights. Gosling does a grand job of playing the driver who switches between cool, calm professional to loving, surrogate father and the relationship between him and his neighbours is believable and organic. But Brooks is just as good, playing very much against type as the brutal gang boss who can seemingly turn anything into a weapon. There is an underlying dark current to the picture that clashes with the possible romance brewing as viciously as the driver deals with anyone who get in his way. His is a classic anti-hero and combined with the retro-sounding music and neon-pink opening credits, "Drive" has a strong Eighties vibe to it that makes it feel reminiscent of other movies like "Bullitt" and "Vanishing Point".
Dark, brutal and as enigmatic as its lead, "Drive" is a high-quality curio that never fails to let go of your attention. For example, there is a shot of Gosling in his car where he just sits there, sun setting behind him and it took a good few moments before I realised that I was holding my breathe with anticipation. I just wish that I was smart enough to fully appreciate it because the ending felt like an anti-climax and the violence felt grimly excessive at times, such as the scene in the lift. What I do appreciate is the film's undeniable style and look - director Nicolas Winding Refn has pulled out all the stops to fashion a film that has a gritty and yet still beautiful feel to it - as well as the cast who do a fantastic job and the soundtrack which is worth tracking down. But like a Booker Prize winning novel, I just wish I had a bit more smarts about me to "get it".