Drive

The third viewing at the cinema definitely confirmed for me that trying to decide between four and five stars is pointless here. Drive is a challenge for film connoisseurs. It is something to discuss, to examine shot by shot and line by line. It’s impossible to put it into a qualitative category, and it’s impossible not to admire it. It is a hypnotically calm and slow opus that concurrently boils over with emotion and suspense. It works with several genres, but it cannot be clearly classified as belonging to any of them. The film keeps the greatest distance from the main character, not letting us understand him or feel his relationship with the girl, for whose protection he resorts to extreme, graphic violence. Though this violence thus becomes shockingly gratuitous, it is irresistibly cathartic in contrast to the romantic poetics that surround it. Through its extravagant camerawork and music, the film conceals the importance of the dialogue, which is the pillar of its story and is served sparingly, almost in fragments, but it perfectly defines the characters immediately with the first line or two. The choice of actors is original and unexpected, and with artistry reminiscent of Tarantino, the director pulls them out of their status as fades stars and eternal players of supporting roles and has them embody characters that will forever be embedded in your memory. Nicolas Winding Refn has what it takes to be the next Tarantino. However, Drive still isn’t his Pulp Fiction. For that, he will need more pieces on the chessboard and a more complex story. (23.11.2011)

I haven’t seen a better film in the cinema this year. A dreamy, sad artsy gangster flick with an extremely charismatic protagonist and a perfect soundtrack. It gave me goosebumps, and more than once. Drive is basically a compilation of Refn’s previous films (I’d dutifully watched them all before). It’s like Pusher shot with the same slick cinematography of Valhalla Rising, spiced up with a blend of the music and the images of Bronson, and mixed with the ambiguous atmosphere of Fear X. A film that can be easily described as “beautiful”, even if fingers are smashed with a hammer, heads are shot and throats are cut. For me, a masterpiece without any flaws, but, as it’s been said, it’s certainly not for everyone. I’ve been playing “A Real Hero” on repeat for an hour. (16.09.2011)

It’s hypnotic (almost everyone talked about the soundtrack after leaving the movie theater), clings to details (cinematography, sound), and constantly goes against established audience expectations. When I got up from my seat, sweat was pouring off me and it wasn't just the heat in the movie theater. (14.09.2011)

For me, a completely bombastic demonstration of what a director with a vision can do from forgettable genre spectacles. Refn projected his fascination with inaccessible heroes, which is prolonged by passion and also by the fascination with stories in which the hero selflessly sacrifices himself. His pagan relishing of vibrations long after the main action of the shot is once again pure happiness, not to mention the beautifully shot car chases and captivating atmosphere of a Los Angeles night. Again, it should be underlined that for Refn, there is no main logic and story - these are just secondary links to the extremely strong scenes elaborated down-to-the-last detail. I look forward to the listing of all the nonsense that analyst viewers can bear, thinking that there is some consistency and story refinement in Drive. What fascinates me to the core: although this time the characters really talk a lot (they are Americans after all), the essentials about their motifs are expressed by Refn with a hint, gesture, facial expression. He simply remained Nordic, even in a field that is supremely "Hollywood". While it's a film with a completely accessible story, Refn made it into an uncontracted author's manifesto and a festival of subversive image-sound connectivity. I just love that Danish boy! Maybe he should make a Bond film. (07.09.2011)

Drive here and there has a similarly hypnotic atmosphere as Taxi Driver. Drive could have (almost) been an artsy remake of Driver. Drive just has the drive of a good film. (17.09.2011)

A ride that slams you hard into your seat and doesn't want to let go for a long time. Suspenseful to the bursting point, more action-packed than Michael Mann and ideas packed into the last second. We have seen plenty of gangsters and silent heroes on the screen for quite some time. But to simply have to run back to the cinema the next day to watch a movie again, that has never happened to me before. Even if I had to just observe the continuity of slow scenes or savor every tone of the soundtrack. (17.09.2011)

I don't know if it was my restless mood or just the movie being unnecessarily slow for me. Sometimes I even wondered if the picture was stuck. It has its charm and atmosphere though. It may be art in its own way, but it lacks excitement. Ryan Gosling has done better work, in my opinion. Of course, it's not his fault. Unfortunately, the script doesn't allow him to show his full glory. Unfortunately, I see it as just average... 3 stars. (23.03.2012)

Drive wants to position itself as a film standing outside the mainstream of its genre. It does not want to be just a cheap or even an expensive popcorn movie that relies on effects, budget, and stars. It is a poser who cares about image and enjoys being seen in the company of those who consider themselves refined aesthetes, experts in true art, and not mere consumers of entertainment. It succeeds to some extent, mainly thanks to the hypnotic music and slow camera, which create tension and a suggestive atmosphere. However, if you take the trouble to strip Drive of its flattering coat, you will find a mundane story, surprisingly unoriginal and perhaps even trivial, with characters who try to be cool at the expense of their credibility and internal logic. Of course, Drive's "coolness" has nothing to do with how, for example, Transporter: The Series understands "coolness" for a more popcorn-friendly audience. Ethically questionable is the obvious aestheticization of brutal violence and, above all, the fact that the creators perceive their protagonist as a positive counterpart to powerful villains and their henchmen, as a protector and a kind of romantic character from the underworld. From my perspective, the Driver looks and acts more like an exemplary psychopath - his inability to experience and share human emotions, the eradication of ethical barriers, the tendency towards antisocial behavior, and outbursts of violence clearly expose him. In Irene's place, I would rather fear my admirer. The behavior of the main antagonists is fully in the grip of rituals, but unfortunately, they are constructed by the screenwriter rather than emerging from the reality of the American underworld and the nature of the conflict between film characters. Overall impression: 60% for the film's appearance, not its content. (31.05.2014)

This could have been such a calm and melancholic film. A nice methodical approach to life, no disturbing elements. And then the driver rides in an elevator with the cute neighbor and it all turns upside-down. Nicolas Winding Refn took a fairly typical pulpy, though still quite high-quality, screenplay, and transformed it into a meditation on the life of a not-entirely-normal driver/stuntman. Breathtakingly shot in nighttime L.A. (almost like my favorite, Mann), the glow of neon lights is framed by 1980’s style electronic music, but Refn flirts primarily with the noir genre, although this is a sunlit version, as absurd as that may sound. Blood spatters, engines roar and the silent, inconspicuous scenes involving the two love birds appear surprisingly significant. The cast is perfect. Gosling is surprising in the role of the silent Driver. Carey Mulligan is completely believable as the main protagonist’s fragile/strong motivation. And Bryan "Heisenberg" Cranston is an absolute chameleon. An inconspicuous hit that will grab your attention if you let it. You know the story about the scorpion and the frog? (19.09.2011)

A stunning minimalist film, a unique experience for lovers of a blend of bearable art-modernism and uncompromising realistic rawness. I would devour everything about the main character, the music perfectly underscores it, and the action is uncompromising. Overall, a very meticulously styled film, whose creators have a knack for feeling and aesthetics and know exactly what and how to do it. (29.10.2011)

Drive is a boring film. A long, drawn-out, empty and uninspiring bore that offered its best at the beginning (the scene of hiding and dodging police cars) and then didn't come up with anything I would call interesting. I think we can agree that the story is dull and boring to the point of shame, but I can’t say that it was filmed in such a way that it would stop bothering me. The fault is probably with my receiver, but I didn't see anything special. In fact, I didn't even hear it - the much-vaunted soundtrack consists, in my opinion, of only a few extremely strange and unpleasant songs, the title track being particularly repulsive. What's next in the film? Just the violence. A head shot, a head smashed, a head crushed, a fork in the eye, a knife in the throat, a razor in the forearm... And the camera shows everything. So? What of it? I feel that Nicolas Winding Refn is just a perverted guy who revels in these brutalities, and while the violence in the previous film, Valhalla Rising, had its purpose (although it really didn't have to absolutely show everything), here it was totally unnecessary, and I would even say purposeful. The last nail in the already very thoroughly hammered coffin for me was the unsympathetic Ryan Gosling. A big disappointment. (13.03.2012)

An atmospheric primer that, with a more thoughtful treatment of the villains and more complexity, would stand on Tarantino's shoulders. There are some rushed solutions and silly character behaviour, but they have no effect on the external refinement and rhythm, nor do they detract from this otherwise impressive and formally ultra-intense neo-noir. Great soundtrack, shocking R-rated violence, atmospheric play with lighting and camera positions, and the best performance by a brilliant Gosling. 85% (09.01.2018)

Where have we ended up, that we’re filming pulp for the critics? Drive is an ovulating woman who, despite her classical preferences, is looking for a man strong like mountain who can provide security physically and financially for her and her future ragamuffin. It lacks the aftermath, though, when the girl in question realizes how dumb she was for landing the smelly individualist on the corner instead of just riding the funny-looking guy who winked at her. I mean, me. Four stars for form, and Refn can just shove the fatalism up his ass. (07.04.2012)

Elokuvan ensimmäinen puolisko on hiukan pitkästyttävä, joskin välttämätön henkilösuhteiden selittämiseksi, ja sen jälkeen seuraa käännekohta, joka lähettää kuljettajan koston maantielle, joskin jonkinlaisen nurkkaan ajetun eläimen muodossa. Välillä melko raa’at kohtaukset sekoittuvat tunteellisiin hidastettuihin otoksiin ja toimintaelokuvalle epätyypilliseen, vaikkakin (tai juuri siksi) vaikuttavaan musiikkiin, joka korostaa väkivallan kuvausta. Osasta kohtauksia voisi tulla jopa unohtumattomia, kuten on käynyt niiden vanhemmille kollegoille muista elokuvista (hissikohtaus, maskikohtaus). (07.09.2011)

Two people amazed me incredibly. First, director Nicolas Winding Refn, who showed me that his film "Barbar" has potential, which, however, was not fully utilized. But with the film "Drive," he convinced me that he simply has it in him. Secondly, it is actor Ryan Gosling, whom I had overlooked, but who showed me that he deserves attention. A great protagonist, with or without a conscience, he is silent, brooding, but still manages to be human when necessary. He carries love within himself, which slowly emerges and must be fought for. A beautiful romantic story in a tough world and tough life of a man who earns a living as a film stuntman, makes extra money as a getaway driver for robbers, and doesn't mind smashing a hoodlum's head to pulp in the presence of his girlfriend. A tough film with a strong story, mainly thanks to great acting performances. I can't help but think that Hollywood needs more European directors. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2012/04/diar-milovnika-filmu-c-0003-eastwood.html (14.02.2013)

A dangerously perfect film. That was my immediate reaction during the closing credits. The "danger" I see is that there's really nothing to fault here. Drive blew me away with how it was conceived in just about every way. I guess it's like if you were sitting in a Broadway theatre watching an absolutely perfect play that has no weak points, yet can be classified as academic (done in a completely "clean" and demonstrative artistic style) but at the same time is very easy to connect with emotionally. Then it's not even really "necessary" to spend the hour and a half in the theatre itself as much as it is in a state where you feel a constant adrenaline rush and your attention remains focused on something happening in front of you, while you yourself feel that you are (or would terribly like to be) a part of it. This brings me to another thing that's actually quite paradoxical (given the fact of how emotionally affecting this film can be), and that's Ryan Gosling's acting. His performance of non-verbal communication is truly a marvelous thing. He manages to maintain his poker face in such a vehement and convincing manner that he could easily be the lead in an alternative music video by a certain pop singer. In terms of direction, there are a few things worth noting here. To the uninitiated or shallow-minded (as far as film in general is concerned), Drive may seem like another typical crime film with a lot of established genre tropes (clichés): car chases, excessive violence, the time-honored archetype of hellishly tough bosses. Except that... except that Refn (I haven't seen many films lately that have retained such a distinctive directorial trademark) has managed to create a very distinctive story dominated by a portrait of the main character and impressively atmospheric scenes that could be described as psychedelic rather than as a stream of car chases and shootouts. The whole film then comes across as a sophisticated genre rebel with conventional and time-forged techniques somewhere up its crevices, and while it doesn't leave an impression of exhibitionism or self-absorption, it doesn't shy away from making its form very showy and explicit. The soundtrack here is one of the many engines that drives an immensely impressive, sophisticated, and complex colossus. It should be noted, however, that the music used in this stands on its own perfectly. The melancholy, the psychedelia, and the almost unbelievable intensity of some scenes is largely ensured by the ingenious implementation of music whose inner pathos is breathtaking at moments. One of my most memorable cinematic experiences ever. And I want that jacket! (06.12.2011)

Incredible atmosphere, fantastic sound (awesome soundtrack) and camerawork, but how do I rate a movie that bored me most of the time and wasn’t really about anything. Unfortunately, I'm not enough of a film buff for this to blow my mind, so three stars it is. (23.01.2013)