Drive

***Drive*** is a 2011 American neo-noir crime thriller film

## Synopsis

A mysterious Hollywood stuntman and mechanic moonlights as a getaway driver and finds himself in trouble when he helps out his neighbor.

## Plot

The unnamed Driver works as a mechanic, a stunt double, a stunt driver, as well as a criminal-for-hire getaway car driver. His jobs are all managed by auto shop owner Shannon, who persuades Jewish mobsters Bernie Rose and Nino to purchase a car for the Driver to race. The Driver meets his new neighbor, Irene, and grows close to her and her young son, Benicio. Their budding relationship is interrupted when Irene's husband, Standard Gabriel, is released from prison.

Standard owes protection money from his time in prison and is beaten up by Albanian gangster Cook, who demands that Standard rob a pawnshop for $40,000 to pay off the debt. Cook gives Benicio a bullet as a symbol that he and his mother are in danger. The Driver, concerned for the safety of Irene and Benicio, offers to act as the getaway driver for the pawnshop robbery.

The job goes awry when the pawnshop owner shoots and kills Standard while the Driver is waiting for him with Cook's accomplice, Blanche. Pursued by a mysterious adversary, the Driver and Blanche escape after an intense car chase. The Driver hides with Blanche in a motel where he learns from a news report that Standard, according to the pawnshop owner, performed the robbery by himself and that no money had been stolen. When she lies about being oblivious to the second car when the Driver interrogates her, he slaps Blanche and threatens to hurt her to get her to talk. Blanche then admits that the bag contains a million dollars and that she and Cook planned to re-steal the money using the car that chased them. Two of Cook's men ambush them in the motel room, and kill Blanche before the Driver manages to kill them both.

At the auto shop, Shannon offers to hide the money, but the Driver refuses. He hunts down Cook in a strip club, smashes his fingers with a hammer, threatens to kill him, and force-feeds him the bullet that was given to Benicio. Cook reveals that Nino was behind the robbery. The Driver decides to return the money, but Nino dismisses the offer and instead sends a hit man to the Driver's apartment building. Entering the elevator with Irene, the Driver encounters the hit man. He then kisses Irene, and brutally beats the hit man to death. Afterwards, Irene leaves the elevator stunned and horrified.

At his pizzeria, Nino reveals to Bernie that a low-level Philadelphia wise guy from the "East Coast mob" stashed the money at the pawnshop. Since anyone tied to the robbery could lead the East Coast Italian Mafia to them, they need to kill everyone involved. Bernie warns Nino that nobody steals from the Italian Mob. Nino is angry because the Italian Mob has marginalized and insulted him because of his Jewish heritage. He convinces Bernie to follow his plan. Bernie then murders Cook, as he is the sole witness to their agreement. After Shannon refuses to divulge the whereabouts of the Driver, Bernie kills him at the auto shop with a straight razor.

The Driver, disguising himself with a rubber mask from his stuntman job, follows Nino from the pizzeria to the Pacific Coast Highway and T-bones Nino's car onto a beach, then chases him from the wreck to the ocean and drowns him. He makes a phone call to Irene to tell her he is leaving and that meeting her and Benicio was the best thing that ever happened to him. The Driver goes to meet Bernie, who promises that Irene will be safe in exchange for the money. He gives Bernie the money, but Bernie attempts to kill him, stabbing him in the stomach. Driver pulls out his own knife and fatally stabs Bernie. Driver then abandons the money and leaves. Irene knocks at the Driver's apartment, but gets no response. The Driver drives off into the night.

## Cast

* Ryan Gosling as The Driver
* Carey Mulligan as Irene
* Bryan Cranston as Shannon