Lack of control...

Rating: 8/10 (5 February 2014)

Modern film noir is about control, more specifically, the lack of control. The characters are often emerged in a world where they do not seem to have control over their fate. Most of the time, they live in a "corrupt" world where twisted constructs or demented minds pull the strings(e.g. east coast mob, Hollywood). Those "villains", instead of being completely revealed and described, are only hinted throughout the story. Yet, the focus is indirectly on them because of how they affect the characters. To emphasize this, the writers often look only at a snapshot of the characters' lives and reduce the dialogue to a minimum (e.g. Ryan Gosling's character is not given a name or a past that can potentially explain some of his actions).
"Drive" successfully touches on most of the typical characteristics of the genre. However, a relatively new aspect is built in as well. Carey's character is not a part of the "world", she is an outsider, thus, pure. She drives the change at the "end" when the driver leaves the scene and only the stuntman remains. The fact that the narrative is not sequential hints that the end result is outside of our control. In the "outer reality", we are the subjects and the writer is the puppet master.
The story is delivered well here. The movie engages and works because of a young talented crew that feeds of each other and trusts each other.
4/5 - Worth a watch