Published on September 29, 2011 by GLAM ????? No Comments 
Review By: JaxH8
Leave it to Ryan Gosling to pussy up a perfectly good action film. I say that jokingly, as not only is it not Gosling?s fault that this film turned out as it did, but I?m not sure that it was ever truly?a good action picture. It seems that in Hollywood right now, people are trying hard to cater to more than one audience with their?films. Movies like How Do You Know and Greenburg?were billed as comedies when in reality they are depressing dramas with a few funny moments. I hate watching depressing shit, but if you?re going to show it to me, be honest about it. Well, the studio?s decision with Drive was to make an action film accessible?to the female audience. Therefore, they took a crime novel by James Sallis, and?cast romance actor and women of all ages heart-throb Ryan Gosling as the lead. Add to that a director who seems to love 70?s slow pace and you have a tale of crime and murder that plays out like bad romance (Lady Gaga reference intended).
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In rough summary, the film is about a mechanic who does some work as a Hollywood stunt driver and also as part time?getaway driver. His rules remind me of Jason Statham in The Transporter, ?I?ll give you a five minutes window. Anything that happens in that five minutes, I?m yours. No matter what. Anything that happens one minute either side of that and you?re on your own.? We then get a genius display of how good he is at keeping his word to get his clients to safety. It?s a great opening. We are then subjected to forty-five?minutes of set up story before we finally see some action again. We get to watch him move into a new place, befriend the neighbor, show up to work, and go shopping. What makes this all so hard to watch is that Gosling?s character never talks unless he has to, so we watch him walk around (remember The Wrestler? That bad.) In essence they set up his relationship with a woman down the hall (Carey Mulligan) and her son, who are getting by while her husband is in jail. Driver (yeah it?s another nameless character, another of Hollywood?s current trends) helps her out with various things. When her husband gets out of jail, he?s a nice guy, determined to turn his life around. Naturally, he owes people from his past who threaten his family if he doesn?t pull a job for them. Driver offers to help him out by driving, but the heist goes horribly wrong. As Driver tries to figure out what he?s into and find a way to keep his new friends safe, bodies start piling up.
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In essence the movie does get good, but it takes for-bloody-ever to set up. The movie is only an hour and a half but drags on for forty-five?minutes before the real story begins. After that, we?re good. I won?t say that anything that happens is any sort of surprise, in fact most of it is predictable. It is however an interesting enough third act to make having to sit through the first two worth it. Ryan Gosling plays his role almost like a sociopath: Quiet, cold and calculating. He doesn?t hesitate when something needs to be done and he?s not showing any guilt or shame for any of his actions leaving you to wonder if there are things in his past that were not alluded to. Getting to watch old-time?comedy actor Albert Brooks play a mobster was an unexpected delight. My biggest laugh has to be that the studio went so far with trying to appeal?to men and women that two posters were? the film, one with an engine and a hard grungy font, vs an angelic image of Gosling and a pink cursive font. The things they do to make that buck.
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Final Word: Could See in Dramatic Action
Must See = 5 stars : Most people should like it.
Should See = 4 Stars : Good picture, but not everyone?s taste.
Can See = 3 Stars : Worth watching at least once, but not the best.
Could See = 2 Stars : You can watch it, but it?s flawed and you probably won?t like it.
Don?t See = 1 Star : Seriously not worth your time
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Source: http://glammagazine.org/?p=4110
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