Movie Review: Drive

Synopsis: A mysterious Hollywood stuntman, mechanic and getaway driver (Ryan Gosling) lands himself in trouble when he helps out his neighbor. It's adapted from the 2005 James Sallis novel of the same name.

This is a very stylized and engaging film, to put it mildly. The main character, the driver, is mostly reserved and mysterious and that goes right along with the feel of the movie... but it's punctuated by moments of extreme violence. It reminded me a lot of The History of Violence really, and I love that film too.

The film is quite a rush. It's very suspenseful and it just feels like something is about to happen all the time. The plot can be taken as very cerebral, but it's also straight forward. Does that make sense? I'm saying I think the film is as deep as you want it to be. It's also beautiful but quite horrific. The characters are real but there's a lot of pain, much of it left unaddressed. Things aren't just straight-up explained and it's not like pieces of the puzzle fall together by the end.

Honestly, when I first saw the trailer and poster I felt like it was probably another "Fast and Furious" type movie, but that's not it's category at all. It's artsy, near noir, and brilliantly shot and directed. It's a dark and very violent slow burn of a ride. See this.

8.5/10