A "Mann" Driven

Rating: 8/10 (11 May 2012)

Here's the deal.
Drive is an unapologetic riff of pretty much every loner crime revenge story ever made and total line descendant of Michael Mann's Thief from 1980, . So much so, that thanks to the bubbly soundtrack, it seems they might as well have filmed it in 1980 too. Drive is a small-time crime story told with great restraint on characterizations and great explosiveness when it comes to violence. As far as modern influences go, Drive is a sort of crazy hybrid of Paul Verhoeven's Spetters and Paul Thomas Anderson's Hard Eight (Sydney) throw in the last few Cronenberg movies while you're at it.
While I don't quite understand the negativity so many haters seem to have for Drive, I understand why some people could be so frustrated by it. Drive is told with Nicolas Winding Refn's European eye for detail and tone. Drive is the definition of character study with a heavy emphasis on STUDY. There is very little quick cutting between camera setups and absolutely zero sitcom-esque axial cut dialog scenes. It is the antithesis of the way most American movies are made. We have been conditioned as a society to watch boxes of talking heads broken up with pointless jabber and largely bloodless violence.
Now how you interpret Drive's way to tell a story is largely a question of style and sensibility. Drive is not for every taste and probably not something you'll be in the mood to watch 24/7, but it is very well done when you have the time to invest in it. While it breaks no new ground - and if you think it does, you must have been born yesterday - Drive is a really immersive odyssey of moments and music. It's essentially the cruise through LA crime movie Michael Mann tried to make with the Hit-Man centered Collateral.
Drive is better.