[Movie Review] Drive

Everyone over on AICN is raving about this movie and for once I whole heartedly agree with them.
Drive is has several styles running through it, I can best describe it as a european, 80’s, noir, violent tale about a Driver who works at a garage/ Hollywood Stunt Man by day and if the money is right will be your wheel man for 5 minutes.
Thankfully, Michael Bay is nowhere in sight.

The good news is Michael Mann-vibes are and that’s what saves this movie from becoming a loud, slam bang, action fest where the editing is so rough you can’t tell who’s hitting who.
The same comments I made about Hanna and the director’s looooooong cuts applies to Drive. Oh, so nice to leave the MTV-style editing by the side of the road. Ahhhhhhhh.
Drive, based on the James Sallis novel of the same name is a small movie with big characters. Brian Cranston plays the owner of the garage, Shannon, he used to do stunts in the movies in the 80s but no longer and now dreams of owning a stock car with Albert Brook’s mob boss, Bernie Rose with Driver played by Ryan Gosling doing what he does best: drives.
Driver is a thinker and not much of a talker. He seems more believable then some of the other mob characters since they almost talk too much and wear too many track suits.
Unfortunately, as all good things the other shoe drops, Driver has been tip toeing through the tulips with his neighbor, Irene played by Carey Mulligan when her husband gets out of jail. Trouble finds him in the way of his old associates looking for him to do a job. The job is simple: rob a pawn broker.
The job, complete with Christina Hendricks, goes south and instead of Driver and Christina on the lamb, Driver, Irene and Shannon become the targets.
This is not a Hollywood movie and so in turn Paul C would have love this movie.
The only downside to this movie was the ending is very quiet, after the build up of characters getting killed or threatened you halfway expect a showdown like the ending in Colombiana instead it’s Albert Brooks laying it down that after all this the woman won’t be hurt but you will be and the results are almost too art house.
It’s still a good ending, don’t get me wrong, it’s like Blade Runner, either you like/hate the elevator doors in your face ending and/or the light happy ending.
Good movie to see in theaters.