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Premiering at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival to a standing ovation, this brooding drama
starring Ryan Gosling was released nationwide on September 16th, where it quickly earned
over four-times it's 15-million-dollar budget. Foolishly mis-advertised as a fast-paced action-thriller,
"Drive" is anything but... the 100 minute film requires absolute patience and an open
mind to truly be appreciated. Developing slowly with almost painfully long sequences without
dialog, Gosling's soft-spoken character is a professional stunt driver / mechanic who
moonlights as a criminal getaway drive for-hire. After falling for his quiet and fragile next-door-neighbor
played by Carey Mulligan, the unnamed Driver gets himself mixed up in pawn-shop heist gone
wrong... and now Albert Brooks and the rest of the mafia is out for his blood. Between
the astonishingly beautiful cinematography that just oozes off the screen and the magical
love-story at it's center, "Drive" is littered with quick punches of gory violence and intense
chase scenes. Unapologetic with his delivery, director Nicolas Winding Refn expertly transports
the viewer into Driver's underworld through magnificent use of sight-and-sound... the
electric-pop soundtrack here is one for the ages, and unquestionably makes the film worth
watching. A smart film with even smarter writing, Driver never once slows itself down for unneeded
exposition, instead trudging forward with it's pitch-performances from the entire cast,
which also includes Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman and Christina Hendricks. Despite receiving
just one Oscar-nomination, the high critical praise for "Drive" is rightly deserved, this
is a fresh, different, and brazenly powerful film that throws convention to wind in favor
of an immensely stylistic approach to story-telling. While I can appreciate the artistic merit
here, there is decidedly something missing to really keep my attention focused on a film
that, although never reaches levels of actual boredom, really pushes the boundaries in the
pacing department, sometimes with terrific results, and other times leaving me wanting
more. "Drive", "Slow and shameless, fantastically beautiful." - Well, that's my review, now
let's see what you had to say in the YouTube comments.
The rate-o-matic again with our scores for "Drive"... an EIGHT and a NINE. Although there
were some dissenting opinions amongst you, the majority loved, and appreciated this film
as the magnificent work of art that it is, you thought it was "Awesome". I almost completely
agreed... and while it certainly wasn't too slow for me... that was something missing
from "Drive"... extra character development perhaps... I can't quite put my finger on
it, but perhaps this is a film that will reward more on repeat viewings. For now though, I
thought it was very solid "Great".