Drive- A Beautifully Dark Film

Rating: 10/10 (27 November 2019)

Drive is a 2011 slow burn action thriller by director Nicolas Winding Refn. It stars Ryan Gosling as a mysterious stuntman-by-day getaway driver-by-night. It is easily my favorite movie that I've seen from the 2010's. That being said, I'm a sucker for pretty lights, coolness, and character driven thrillers. It's worth noting that the name of Ryan Gosling's character is never mentioned, so for the remainder of this review I will refer to him as Driver. DO NOT READ FURTHER THAN THIS BEFORE SEEING THE MOVIE. The story revolves around Driver, his kind neighbor how he falls in love with, her kid, and her husband who gets released from jail part way through the movie. The husband is forced to do one last job for his old bosses in order to get out for good. If he doesn't they'll kill his wife and kid. Driver decides to offer his services to ensure the woman he loves, and her child's safety. The heist goes wrong and the husband is killed before he can get to the getaway car, but his partner survives, holding a bag containing a million dollars. They were only supposed to end up with forty thousand. After a fantastic chase scene, Driver and the partner arrive at a motel room, where he interrogates her. It is revealed that she was in on the plan to steal the million and make sure the husband ends up dead. As soon as she reveals this, hit men show up to take out her and Driver, and they succeed in killing her before Driver brutally and skillfully kills them. This makes for a cool action scene, but it's a sad moment for the character. Before now, even when he was regularly being a getaway driver, he seemed as if he regretted his decisions to break the law. He has now killed two men, and had an active (even if inadvertent) part in the deaths of two others. He was just trying to protect the woman he loves, and act fatherly for her little boy, and it's caused so much death. But the violence is far from over, and Driver knows it. These will not be the last two hit men that come after him or the neighbor. He decides to keep what he's done a secret from the neighbor until it's absolutely necessary that she knows. Driver schedules to return the money, because it's only caused him pain, and he wants the pain to stop. Regardless of this, they still send another hitman after him and the neighbor. Driver if standing in the elevator with her, when he notices the other man in the elevator is hiding a gun in his jacket. Realizing what he must do, and who he must do it in front of, he gives the neighbor one last kiss. He knows that this moment will be the last time she will ever admire him, and that he will have to give that up to protect her. After the kiss, the hitman attempts to make his move, but Driver is ready for it. He kills him, brutally smashing his head in with his foot out of anger. The neighbor is horrified, and Driver gives her a look that's a strange mix of apologetic, regretful, and thankful. He has ensured her and her child's safety, but at a great cost. The movie ends with an extremely tense scene. Driver is discussing how he wants to return the money with the money's owner at a restaurant. This seems happy, until the scene starts to become intercut with the direct aftermath. Driver hands him the money and is stabbed in the stomach. Driver then stabs him in the neck, killing him. He leaves the money on the ground next to his cold body, and drives off, injured. It ends with a somber song playing over Driver cruising into the night. Drive is a fantastic movie that perfectly balances tragedy, thrills, and coolness, three things that are very hard to simultaneously pull off well. Refn's direction and lighting are perfect in compliment to Gosling's touching performance. Drive is a perfectly dark and beautiful film. 10/10.