Drive

Rating: 5/5

He has no name. All he's there to do is make sure the bad guys escape so the hardboiled hero cop can uncover a conspiracy later. But what is the getaway driver outside the getaway car? Who doe he love, how does he live? Why does he drive? I have never thought about any of this before in crime movies like Heat or Takers. Drive has not only made me consider all this, but understand it. That is only part of why Drive is one of the most brilliant films of 2011.

A nameless stuntman (Ryan Gosling) works part-time as a getaway driver. He is extremely precise about timing, is always unarmed, and never gets caught. As he says in the film, he does not want to be seen. His car is an extension of himself, a passion he tries to share with Irene (Carey Mulligan), an angelic woman the driver loves. When Irene's reformed ex-con husband (Oscar Isaac) is threatened by a local gangster (Ron Perlman) into robbing a pawn shop for 40 grand, the driver agrees to help. But after a double-cross that leaves the husband dead and the driver with a million dollars of stolen mob cash, all hell breaks loose.

As I write, it has already been a couple days since I saw Drive into the theater. I do that for all my reviews, because I don't get into preview screenings and I need time to process. After processing Drive in my head, I can't find anything wrong with it. No nitpicks, no cons, nothing. Drive is supremely written, but there isn't a lot of talking. Nicolas Winding Refn uses this to a genius degree, because he builds such tension with such intelligence and subtlety that it's truly astounding. Drive is similar to a Tarantino film in that it makes us think about how we view the film as we watch it.

Technically, Drive is perfect. It has brilliant direction, great, subtle dialogue and character development, fantastic cinematography, and amazing acting. Ryan Gosling is always good, but here he truly shines. Because of his character's usual silence, Gosling gives an almost purely visual performance full fo authenticity and emotion. The driver is not a catalyst for the events around him, he is merely a pawn with knighthood thrust upon him by pure chance. Drive makes us think about how we are watching the film through genuine emotional attachment to a character who could only come from the world of film.

Drive is many things. It is existential and deep, but not pretentious. It is an action film but its own kind of action film. It is very violent in parts, but not for the sake of being violent. Drive was clearly very carefully constructed, and it pays off with a huge jackpot. This is one of the rare films that is both immensely entertaining as well as brilliant in its themes and symbolism. It is definitely worth seeing, more than once, and is indubitably one of the three best films of the year along with 13 Assassins and Attack the Block. I cannot recommend Drive enough. See it for your sake.