Eighties Camp At Its Best

Rating: 9/10 (2 November 2011)

This movie is great campy fun -- but elevated to art by the quality of the acting and the directing. It's almost Warholian in it's approach: gloss, camp, ultra-violence. Clearly the film is a parody/dissection/love-letter to those action films from the eighties where the heroes were cool and the plot twists were utterly obvious and the world was glossy and cheesy and strikingly soul-less, but also terribly attractive. The plot? Ryan Gosling drives a getaway car, falls for the lovely but under-used Carey Mulligan, and ends up in trouble after helping her troubled husband do one last heist. Oh yeah, it's predictable alright. But the direction is so assured and the acting is so fine that it's an absolute pleasure to watch things unfold. I wish there had been one or two more good twists, and the ending was disappointing. But how can anyone complain after a cinematic treat like this. Extra points for the spot-on soundtrack!