Drive

Rating: 7/10 (24 September 2013)

Nicolas Winding Refn creates an engrossing crime-drama based in Echo Park, Los Angeles that makes you rethink how an action based movie should be made. The location of the movie plays a big part in understanding what is going on. Echo Park in Los Angeles is a two and a half mile area that is one of the most crime-stricken and densely populated areas in LA. Refn creates characters that develop throughout the movie into people we can all relate to. Drive manages to isolate itself from other movies through the acting of Ryan Gosling, the plot of the movie itself, and the screen writing of Refn.
Ryan Gosling never was given a name and barely said more than a couple words at a time, which played very well into the character he was portraying in the movie. Gosling's character was a professional stunt driver for movies and ran a side business of a get-away driver for criminals. The driver was soft-spoken to say the least, an example of this is when Gosling goes on a date with his neighbor, Irene. The date consists of very few words but the audience can feel the emotional tension between the two actors. Even though Gosling is soft-spoken he still manages to get his point across, this is prevalent in the scene where Irene's husband Standard Gabriel gets beat up by mobsters who Standard owed money too. Gosling finds out about this and gets straight to the point by demanding Standard to tell him who beat him up and why.
The plot of the movie plays itself out throughout the whole movie and keeps you guessing what is going to happen next. Although it comes off as a typical, run and gun, save the girl action movie it is much deeper than that through the use of different movie-making techniques. The director Nicolas Winding Refn keeps the audience on their feet by introducing new characters such as Irene's husband Standard Gabriel who had been in prison, tying old characters from the beginning of the movie back in at the end, and creating twists right up to the end.
Nicolas Refn did an incredible job with the screen writing, every single character in the movie is very easy to relate to and the setting plays along with the characters. This plays into the plot of the movie revolving around crime. Refn created a fantastic character in the driver which is played by Ryan Gosling who plays the role perfectly and makes the character even better. He also created a very relatable plot through the relationship between the driver and Irene, the screen writing was very relatable also and the two complimented each other very well. In the final scene where Gosling leaves the money, he finds himself driving along an open road with a stab wound. Even with the stab wound the driver seems to be in no pain, he is just enjoying himself driving, and waiting for the next step in his life.