Detached violence

Rating: Null/10 (10 May 2014)

Drive feels like a crime action film directed by an art-house director. Its focus is not necessarily on the action or the coolness factory of it all, but on the human lives and their struggles to continue living. The storytelling is slow and ponderous, many long scenes are dedicated to subtle facial expressions alone and both the score and the visual design have that artsy feeling to them.
As a whole it's an interesting experience and I'm in no way saying that its so called artsiness in any way takes away from its enjoyment value. Quite the opposite. Its a take on the genre I've never seen before and it has a lot of novelty value. Besides, the art-house style means that the aesthetics are given a lot of attention, which means that the whole film looks and sounds great. From fight choreographies to colours to dialogue, it all works.
My only real problem with this film is really the main character, the eponymous Driver (Ryan Gosling). I can see the director's idea with the character. A coldblooded criminal, more in tune with the cars he drives than with people or life in general. It's an interesting character concept, but unfortunately Gosling plays him too subdued, at least for my tastes. It's hard to get into the head of someone that never expresses something or seems to care about anything. The main character is detached from the world of living and in the process from us, the viewers.
Drive is an excellent film to watch if you want to see an intense crime action film that is shot extremely well with well-utilized production values. I cannot personally vouch for the main character, but I have heard that most people have no problem with him so it's just my personal pet peeve.