Drive (2011)

Drive. Drive, Driver, Driven, Drove, Drive. To put into perspective how powerful this movie is-I think I pulled a muscle (stretching, not actually doing athletic work) halfway through it, and I stayed to watch it. I stayed to watch this movie, because not a nuclear explosion could take me away from this movie. Not to be blasphemous, but in Heaven, I’m pretty sure there’s a Blu-ray of Drive somewhere in there. I actually had to wait about 15 minutes before writing this review, out of the sheer notion of horror coming from that movie. The movie leaves you absolutely breathless, I stood up to clap at my computer screen. No review of mine could give this movie the justice it deserves, but I can try. For starters, the only reason this isn’t #1 on my 2011 list is because of Midnight in Paris, which I think is as wonderful of a film, but I can watch that with my mom, so…I do not recommend watching this movie with your mom. For starters, there is a scene where Ryan Gosling barges in on a strip club changing room and takes a hammer to a mobster’s head. That is only a second, however, in the fascinating life of The Driver, a man who has two day jobs, a stunt driver for movies, and a mechanic, while moonlighting as a getaway driver for criminals at night. He is about cars like I am about movies. He loves cars, he is one with his car, he is one of the best drivers out there. And then he meets Irene. Played by Carey Mulligan, Irene is the next-door neighbor to the quiet nameless Driver, she has a son and a husband who is in the process of getting out of prison for doing a job. But after he is released, he calls on the Driver to help him with a final job that would put Irene and her son off of the mobster’s watch-list, a job that-to say the least-doesn’t end up very well. Blood is spilled, shots are fired, and if I can mildly spoil something that happens about an hour in-a character’s entire face is blown off with one pull of the trigger. Seriously-it explodes like one of the Resident Evil zombies. But also added into the mix when the heist goes wrong are two mobsters (Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman), who clash with the Driver and his mentor, Shannon (the great Walter White, Bryan Cranston) when they accidentally grab one of the mobster’s money instead of the $20,000 they were supposed to. That is about all I caught of the plot, because I was spending too much time with a delayed heart rate and absolutely terrified. Because, aside from about 15 minutes spread throughout the 100 minutes the film takes place, it is extremely tense, because you’re just waiting for the tensions to break. For example, one of the most notable scenes in the film is when the Driver and Irene are in an elevator with a hitman. They all just stare at each other, and you just wait. And wait. And wait. Then the Driver squashes the hitman’s head in with his foot. The director of this film, Nicholas Winding Refn, won the award for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival, an award well-deserved. I think even more than Best Picture (which this did deserve at least a nomination for), this movie deserved Best Director for Refn, because he directs this neo-noir with such a wonderful style, with crazy harsh colors, insane moments, and absolute beauty. One of the hardest things to do here is to make beauty out of violence, and Refn does this. This is the first film of his I have seen, but judging from this movie, if he steps up his film count, and picks the right script, he could be the next Scorsese. Yes. I actually did just say that. But still-this movie is a masterpiece of modern cinema, a movie that truly needs to be seen by everybody. You will do yourself nothing but a favor by watching Drive, the biggest snub the Oscars have done since The Dark Knight got the same treatment in 2008.
9.5/10