With a title as innocuous as Drive, a catchphrase as generic as "there are no clean getaways" and little to no hype or publicity, it comes as possibly the best shock of the year that Drive isn't just good, it's close to incredible.
Director Nicolas Winding Refn makes his U.S. debut with a movie that doesn't so much blend genres together as create whole new ones. Sure, we've heard the story before (total badass goes rogue after a heist gone wrong), but it's never been told quite like this.
Drive mixes the ultra violence of Tarantino with the pacing and sharp visual imagery of Once Upon a Time in the West, frames the whole plot in the romance of European art-house and dunks the entire work in '80s retro goodness perhaps most notably exemplified in video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
The hero of the film is the unnamed driver (Ryan Gosling) who lives an unassuming life in a non-descript apartment in Los Angeles.
He is a stuntman by profession, working on Hollywood movies; the work is dangerous, but he doesn't care.
He moonlights as a mechanic in a dirty garage where he is mentored by crippled Shannon (Bryan Cranston), but he makes his real money working as a getaway driver late at night for whatever criminals have the cash to pay for it.
A chance encounter with neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her young son kicks off the main plot: Irene's husband is in jail, and he's mixed up with the wrong people.
Needless to say, much of the impact of this film (based on a short, non-linear book by James Sallis) would be lost in a simple plot synopsis. Rest assured that there are enough snappy one liners and muscle-bound heroes to make Arnie sit up and take notice, but a simple revenge action flick this is not.
It is a rare director and cast indeed that can make both subtle romance and gory violence (and, in one notable case, a collision of the two) look and feel so good.
The nameless wanderer is nothing new to cinema, but this is certainly the best instance that comes to mind of it working so well within a modern context.
Refn takes a page out of Sergio Leone's book and pastes it angrily over Tarantino's; despite the tit-for-tat story and the stylish violence which look like they jumped straight out of Pulp Fiction, Refn never falls into the pitfall of letting his characters do the long-winded talking for him.
Instead, tension is built up almost entirely through the so-tight-it-hurts pacing, choice bits of dialogue here or there and the minutes of silence and extreme close-ups that come before spats of extreme violence.
Worth mentioning is the soundtrack, which has got to be one of the best to grace the silver screen in the last 10 years. The score is largely minimalist, working with loud expressions of bass to boost the suspense of a car chase or gunfight.
Combined with these are stunningly good, '80s-styled vocal pieces with catchy lyrics and enough of an emotional punch to express some of the emotions that Gosling's character won't or can't put into words.
The photography is absolutely stunning, shifting gears from dark and gritty car chases to light and heartwarming romance scenes without even the tiniest break in consistency.
The acting, which probably won't be mentioned at the next Oscar run, is more than serviceable with Gosling being tough and macho, Mulligan being strong but vulnerable and all the bad guys being, well, bad.
The driver himself is the only character that has much complexity to him. He is a good man doing bad things for the right reasons; ever heard that before? Just like Clint Eastwood's cowboys, he has to be tough to survive. And just like Eastwood, people around him, especially those he cares about, have an unpleasant habit of dying. He exists within shades of grey, dealing with situations too violently at times - but that's because he deals only with his own rules.
Gosling brings an interesting layer to a character that we've seen before; instead of the rough, gruff and gravelly voice of Eastwood and his devil-may-care attitude, Gosling is sensitive and soft spoken - until the shooting starts.
Watching Drive, one knows that Refn loves films. He references everything, including Korean revenge story Oldboy and even has a rather blatant homage to Halloween.
His enthusiasm is contagious - Drive proves that Refn is a force to be reckoned with, no matter what speed he's going.You'll leave the cinema wanting to turn around and go right back in.
Bottom Line: One of the best movies of the year, Drive deftly blends European art-house cinema with retro ultra violence into a brilliantly shot, well acted and superbly paced masterpiece.
5/5 stars.
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