Drive, which is directed by Nicholas Winding Refu (Pusher, Valhalla Rising, and lets not forget Bronson) is one of the kind of movies that if you did not read the review, you would walk out on. But if you did walk; you would be making a mistake.
Ryan Gosling, who seems to be in every other movie and is the flavor of the month, is a stunt car movie driver during the day; but by night, he is a get away driver for a plethora of assorted crooks and armed robbery thieves. (Let’s face it: Everyone needs two jobs now-a-days.) Some writer who was on a lexicon binge appropriately named the Gosling character Driver; but don’t let that bit of stupidity fool you. What you’re in for is a super-violent movie that will keep you far from nodding.
Driver, who is a man of few words (aka Clint Eastwood); but who also is a character that made me so aggravated that I wanted to give him a solid punch in his face (say something for God’s sake: you’re being paid). Somehow I stomached the non-acting and it paid off. Driver gets involved with his neighbor, Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her little boy who live in the apartment next to him and soon finds out that her husband is in prison. When Irene tells Driver that her husband is getting out of jail, the developing romance is put in jeopardy. Irene’s husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac), takes a beating in a parking lot after his release, and Driver who is a witness to the incident, wants to know why. Standard reveals that some crooks from his prison stay want their protection money and hold him hostage to a pawn shop robbery that they have concocted. Driver offers his help as the get away transport because he feels that Irene and her boy are in danger: Big mistake.
This movie has some fine acting by Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman as the bad guys, and Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), as Driver’s friend.
Any one who likes Nascar and car crashes is going to love this flick; but a word of caution: the movie is highly entertaining, but contains graphic violence.
My rating: 3 out of 5 muscle cars.