Drive

I've never really liked excessive gore. Loyal readers who have read my Final Destination 5 review will know that by now. It's not that I'm squeamish or offended by brain matter being splattered against a bathroom wall or someone's eyes being gouged out with little more than a rusty teaspoon. I just find it unnecessary. Some of the best cinematic violence has occurred off-screen and becomes all the more effective when it is implied and the audience interprets it in its own way. When I was looking for a film to review this week, I decided to throw caution to the wind and pick a film at random, without researching it or hearing anything about it previously. I happened upon Drive, an action/crime thriller about a film stunt driver who, in his spare time, drives get-away vehicles for various robberies. However, when he gets involved in a heist which goes badly wrong, he soon finds himself the target of a criminal gang. Rated 18, the film is very violent and, as the BBFC puts it 'the strongest gory images...are at times accompanied by an emphasis on the infliction of pain and injury'. Nice. However, it would be unfair to let the violence dominate the film as there are several interesting points about it.

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and starring Ryan Gosling as the Driver and Carey Mulligan as his love interest, Drive demonstrates Hollywood's attempts in recent years to try and make action films which are more meaty in terms of narrative and moralistic themes. In a way, Drive succeeds in this. One of the stand-out features of the film is the dialogue or, perhaps, the lack of it. Whilst watching the film, I became very aware of the fact that the characters said very little to each other, instead using facial expressions and body language to communicate meaning. Winding Refn's direction and choice to use the awkward smiles between the Driver and Mulligan's character Irene as a replacement for words worked wonderfully and helped to highlight the tension between them. At times, I felt myself willing Gosling to at least say something rather than standing there as if he were at a family reunion making awkward conversation with his great aunt. And yet, this use of visuals to tell a story rather than have a character explain every plot point was very refreshing. I liked the overall feel of the film as well: the cinematography during the robbery sequences really added to the sense of unease and shots of Gosling simply driving provided a brilliant counterpoint to the crazy action of his day-to-day life.

The soundtrack of Drive is worth a mention and, again, lifts the film out of the festering pool of Hollywood action B-movies. The use of synthesised music added a slightly surreal feeling to the film and the repetitive, threatening rhythm in the heist sequences worked superbly well. As you've probably gathered, the level of sadistic violence is far too high and, instead of being realistic, ends up obscuring the real message of the film and, on occasion, prompted laughs from the audience. On the subject of the heist sequences, these were shot very well. But, from the moment the car pulled off to make its get-away, things went down hill. The cinematography was bland, predictable and, ultimately, boring. For a film about a film stunt driver, I was expecting thrilling car chases with crashes, screeching tyres and horrified THINK! road campaigners powerlessly looking on. What I got, however, was very different. The car chases were dull and far too few in number to live up to the film's set-up. When I go and see a film about cars and heists, I want to smell burning rubber, not the petrol fumes of a traffic jam. To be honest, I've seen more exciting action sequences on Antiques Roadshow.

Another problem I had with the film (despite the excessive violence) was its predictability. Now, there's nothing wrong with a generic narrative arc now and again: it serves a useful purpose in helping the audience understand the film. But Drive was a bit too predictable and the ending seemed to wrap-up all the loose ends in a way which didn't quite sit with the rest of the film. The relationship between Gosling and Mulligan was one of the strengths of the film but this, again, could have been exploited further. Please don't think that I'm saying that the plot is poor – it's not – but I just think that so much more could have been made of the set-up. This film will, no doubt, develop a cult following and be applauded for its gritty portrayal of mobs and crime but for me, the whole thing is a little too airbrushed; a little too Hollywood. Despite what Drive strives to be, it never quite makes it but it is still a film which has made a move in the right direction for Hollywood action cinema. 

Clapperboard Rating: * * *