It is simply too simple, too generic and too boring to make any type of effect on me

Rating: 6/10 (19 December 2011)

Just finished watching Drive, and I basked it in all of its exceptional competence and amazing adequacy. It is simply too simple, too generic and too boring to make any type of effect on me.
Ryan Gosling plays a getaway driver who is nearly as robotic as the soundtrack is. His impressive range of acting talent is confined to staring deeply at his neighbour, Irene, or staring deeply at his boss, or staring deeply at the camera, or... well you get the picture. He is a man of few words, and the ones he do say sound like they're written from a "Write Your Own Movie" kit- scant and merely functional enough to keep the "plot" moving. His character has little to no motivation for anything done in the film, except that he "loves" Irene. This point is conveyed through quick shots of them driving together, them having small talk, or, if they're going to be really romantic, staring deeply at each other. When the action begins (and believe me, it takes a long damn time to begin), she is shoved out of the way like the nameless plot device her character is.
The plot is about as flimsy as you get, and runs around the film like a 5-year-old with amnesia. Plot lines that seem like the movie's main point get picked up and dropped just as fast (Is his career in stunt driving progressing? No... Is he going to do more odd driver jobs? No... Is he going to be a race car driver?) and when it finally decides to settle on a theme, it kicks characters out just as quickly. Christina Hendricks? Bah- toast her. The boy? He was in this movie? And when it finally ends- well, you let me know. Because the ending that it left us with felt like the writer went for a bathroom break and the director rushed in and grabbed it. Pathetic.
With an over 1 1/2 hour run time, Drive ends up being a generic mobster action movie that takes an extraordinarily long time to get anywhere. It overindulges in its night-time visuals and stylistic "hero" that it forgets it should be actually telling a story. I can see many people being deluded that it is an artsy deep movie because the main character is nameless and near silent, but it only uses these conventions to cover up the lack of originality the movie has. It simply tries to be a Pulp Fiction without the grit- without the heart.
Things I did enjoy was the music, I think Kavinsky was used excellently in the opening, and the visuals. I appreciated the neon lights of the night, and the shots of Gosling driving around at night with the soundtrack bumping in the background definitely set an electric mood.