Hyped to death movie that fails to fully deliver.

Rating: 4/10 (3 February 2012)

Oh Drive, how I was expecting so much more from you. I will never try and pretend that not once did I think this movie was going to be something that could have swept the Oscars (though it has been nominated for one) but I expected something better than what I received. Don't get me wrong, Drive is not horrible, but it is not this supposedly wonderful and defining film that everyone says it is. It is OK at it's best of times, and downright annoying and tedious at it's worst. I think that this is all thanks to the fact that the movie never once gets above it's tepid pace, no the least thanks to Ryan Gosling's just bored sounding delivery. Look, I never thought the man was wonderful, but I know he is above sounding like he is giving a Time Share lecture. Riveting. Oh well, it is nice to know that everyone else has the same bored quality (except Ron Perlman, he is awesome, but not in the movie enough) and then the story is really about as simple as one could expect from a movie that is hyped to crap. It just never once builds up to any tempo nor does it truly get fun enough to warrant a second viewing (unless being bored for a good three quarters of the movie is your thing.) Now, as much as I tear it down, why not rate it lower? Firstly, it really is not incredibly bad with some good gore scenes and disturbing imagery (a bullet being shoved down someone's mouth comes to mind.) But this movie was ultimately killed thanks to it's incredible hype, and failure to really follow through with it. Watch this movie if you only if you are a huge Gosling fan, or think that really crummy acting is your thing.