Pointless gratuitous violence

Rating: Null/10 (3 October 2011)

The movie "Drive" starts off great. Pacey soundtrack, great action, cool pink 80's font on the titles, noticeably unique direction, intriguing protagonist... and then just as you're starting to enjoy the love story unfolding between Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan the movie warps into a graphically violent predictable mob story where everyone gets their head smashed in or their arms cut off or stabbed to death with a fork. Ryan Gosling actually puts his foot through a man's face and ribcage repeatedly in one of the grossest 60 seconds in cinema I can recall. And the character's murderous sociopath's proclivities are never explained with back story. This movie could have been so good but the gore was gratuitous and pointless and at the end of the movie you know no more about Gosling's character than you do at the beginning. Other things that made no sense: The strippers watch their boss get smashed up with a hammer and not one of them reacts AT ALL. They all just sit there like dumb extras that someone forgot to direct. Sure strippers may have seen a lot and be less sensitive than others but surely a couple of the twelve women in the dressing room would scream, throw up, or at least cover her eyes when witnessing someone getting tortured and smashed up with a hammer. They had zero reaction. Carey Mulligan's character barely reacts to her husbands violent death and there is also no reason or explanation for her slapping Ryan Gosling in the face when he says he helped her husband.