Drive clearly has a
taken its aesthetic from the Grand Theft Auto games (not to mention Scarface),
particularly noticeable in the 80s synth soundtrack and slick, pink font of the
opening credits recalling GTA Vice City. With its near mute, criminal protagonist
who harbours a strong violent streak and its gory displays of arterial violence
it owes a lot of its style to the popular video game series. It features a
lightweight romantic subplot that relies heavily on the facial acting of its
two leads; Ryan Gosling and an unexceptional Carey Mulligan. Perhaps though
there is no real issue with the actors but the script or the director. The film
has its own style particularly in the long passages without any dialogue from
the stoic leading man. However this is where the film collapses in this very
heavy style in which Gosling’s brooding silence becomes forced and Gosling
can’t carry it off, lacking the natural conviction of a ‘Clint Eastwood’ glint.
These strange exchanges with the professional getaway driver and part time
stunt man are a glaring stilt to the many non- Driving moments; in fact there
are just two car chases in this film and both occur in the first act. Both are
impressive and Refn’s habit of shooting from the car interior gives the film a
very Bullitt feel. But Refn’s film descends into a bloody gangland tale full of
Tarantino-esque cartoon violence as the CGI blood begins to splatter left,
right and centre the film’s gritty atmosphere is very quickly lost before the
halfway mark. It’s a case of being too long, too little drive, too much stylization
and too many attempts to give the film a unique style; basically this ain’t no
Fight Club, no Matrix and it certainly is not Bullitt!
With its near mute,
criminal protagonist who harbours a strong violent streak and its gory displays
of arterial violence it owes a lot of its style to the popular video game
series. It features a lightweight romantic subplot that relies heavily on an
unexceptional Carey Mulligan. The film collapses in this very heavy style in
which Gosling’s brooding silence becomes forced and Gosling can’t carry it off,
lacking the natural conviction of a ‘Clint Eastwood’ glint. These strange
exchanges are a glaring stilt to the many non- Driving moments; in fact there
are just two car chases in this film and both occur in the first act. Refn’s
film descends into a bloody gangland tale full of Tarantino-esque cartoon
violence as the CGI blood begins to splatter left, right and centre the film’s
gritty atmosphere is very quickly lost before the halfway mark. It’s a case of
being too long, too little drive, too much stylization and too many attempts to
give the film a unique style; basically this ain’t no Fight Club, no Matrix and
it certainly is not Bullitt!
**
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