Character oriented psychological neo-noir slow burn criminal drama with romance as underpin

Rating: 8/10 (8 February 2019)

This movie is not about cars and driving. It's about something in man's nature which makes him susceptible to downfall to darkness and violence. That downfall can lead to problems with ones identity and so we're symbolically never told what is the name of our main protagonist since names can carry meanings. He is simply 'driver' who wears a famous scorpion jacket which is a substitute for a name the meaning of which we have yet to discover and verify.
So we follow a driver that looks and behaves as a pretty normal guy who, inter alia, works as a getaway driver for criminals. He doesn't carry a gun or participate in heists but rather only drives criminals to a safe zone. We see him working in the introductory scene and later very rarely. What we see for the rest of the movie is how this 'slight' involvement in criminal activities affects him and people around him.
Tone of the movie is neo-noir, a mixture of Lynchian dialogues and Fincher's darkish colors. Both of these are important. Since driver doesn't speak much you have to read his face and manoeuvres to try to understand what he thinks and how he feels. Besides, remember that he sometimes wears a jacket with a famous large scorpion sign on his back which has an important meaning and role. Concerning the overall dark and sometimes very violent milieu, I came to see that it's not gratuitous. It's role is to horrify you for the sake of better understanding of driver's character and decisions he makes. Violence first occurrence splits the movie into two parts which in turn adds to sharper contrast between amiable driver we got to know and his dark side. And that leads to greater shock value depending on the image of driver you had created throughout the first half. That shock can be pretty effective and lead you to reevalute your assessment especially if you had put driver's involvement with bad guys in second plan and put his tenderness first. Ultimately. I'd say Drive is a character oriented psychological neo-noir slow burn criminal drama with romance as underpin.
Furthermore, there are other two things worth mentioning: soundtrack and camera angles. First really stands out and even plays a role because sometimes words used in a song depict directors intentions. Second is harder to notice at first but I urge you to take a look at YouTube analysis for better insights which will certainly make you appreciate Drive more and maybe make you watch it more than once. The point is that camera angles used in different situations reinforce a particular aspect of driver's character, e.g. low shots making him look superior and dominating.
When we take everything together, Drive turns out to be a pretty solid and serious movie about driving forces behind some man's actions. If you're looking for a slow and more or less sophisticated multi-genre journey into darkness and violence, you've come to the right place.