The premise of Drive sounds promising: a Hollywood stunt driver (Ryan Gosling) who moonlights assisting with heist getaways befriends his attractive neighbor (Carey Mulligan) and her young son (Kaden Leos). The three grow close, and the driver agrees to help the family by taking on a job, unaware of who he is dealing with. Unfortunately, the execution of this core idea is muddled with sappy montages, unnecessary carnage, and lack of any character traits whatsoever, detracting from any interest inspired by the logline.
Hardly any information is provided about Gosling’s character. He isn’t given so much as a name (and is credited only as “the driver”), much less any sort of personality. He’s emotionless, a “good guy” for good guy’s sake. It’s no secret that Gosling is talented, disciplined in the craft of acting. But there’s not much material here for him to work with. Rather than giving him the chance to develop his character into a complex human being without the constraint of excessive dialogue, this lack of any backstory proves to be a serious limitation. Perhaps director Nicolas Winding Refn assumed that audiences would be blinded by Gosling’s good looks, but outside of a romantic comedy, that just doesn’t cut it.
Mulligan’s character is equally bland. She doesn’t seem terribly upset about the fact that her husband is in jail, and being with the driver doesn’t give her any particular spark that makes the audience say, “they should be together.” I couldn’t figure out any reason that they should, other than the fact that they’re neighbors and it’s convenient. With the short blonde hair and petite physique, Mulligan looks almost exactly like Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine, which elicits a strong feeling of “been there, done that”. It’s nice to see Bryan Cranston and Christina Hendricks in roles outside of AMC, but their parts in the film are so small that it seems like a tremendous waste of talent.
The pacing is inconsistent; some sequences are incredibly slow and without much motivation, while others snap from one action-packed shot to the next with little time in between to allow the audience to catch up. The film starts out on an excessively saccharine note as we observe the romance develop between Gosling and Mulligan. But about midway through, it suddenly takes a bizarre and jarring turn towards gratuitous violence. Some of these images are so disturbing and impossible for the viewer to get out of their head – which would be permissible if the audience went in with any idea about what was to come. Unfortunately, Drive offers no such disclaimer, and those looking for a bit of The Fast and the Furious-esque fun will be sorely disappointed. (Those looking for a film that displays the craft of filmmaking in its most excellent form will be devastated).
For a film titled Drive, the film has very little to do with the physical action of driving. Apart from a quick car chase that opens the film, and another near the end, Gosling primarily operates on foot. The cinematography is beautiful, but doesn’t enhance anything inherently powerful in the script like good cinematography should. The gore effects are impressive, but can be overwhelming given the context.
Drive has already garnered a devoted fanbase and the approval of many critics, but this viewer remains unimpressed. The tone, motivations, and technical elements do not work together to create a cohesive piece of work, and this can only be attributed to one thing: bad direction.
I realize I’m in the minority, but there is nothing “driving” me to see this film again.
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