Same old story, new design

Rating: 7/10 (13 January 2018)

When looking at it from a distance, "Drive" is an action film about revenge. The movie has a love story, betrayal, a father figure and motivations for every character. A classic story, nothing new, but "Drive" presents it in a way which I have never seen before.
The movie uses its - by now famous - soundtrack to create a neo-noir world which we get sucked into in the first minutes. Intelligent use of silence and impressive camera-work push the audience into their seats. The opening scene creates an incredibly dense atmosphere, which is sadly broken throughout the movie.
In my opinion, the movie suffers from its fear of straying too far from the path of modern Hollywood action thrillers. The protagonist has to be loveable, even though we know that he is quite the heartless guy and his love interest is even shown to fear him at one point in the movie. Needless exposition is given about the intentions and motivations of the 'bad guys'. The atmosphere created in the opening scene is given up to tell a more than mediocre story, in fear of scaring audiences away with a too artsy approach.
Nonetheless, when the movie realizes its strengths, it is really good. Subtle acting, creative use of violence and well executed action scenes make this movie seem like a modern interpretation of the action genre, not daring too much, but still enough to elevate itself above the others.