Drive (2011)

★★★★
Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive is a gorgeous and thoughtful film. When I say that, I'm not talking about animation or computer generated effects, of which this movie has none. It is gorgeous because of its camera angles, its slow pace, its soundtrack, its sparse dialogue. The characters think about their actions. Tension builds slowly and lingers. This is truly poetry in motion. It's an action movie to the extent that the action is intense, sudden and heart-pounding, though these scenes are few in number and spaced far enough apart that an angry viewer sued the production company for false advertisement due to a misleading trailer that teased more. The hero is a loner who has few lines, like Mad Max, though this guy has no name. The plot is simple, and we get just enough information to know what's happening. There is mob money involved, but the movie isn't that interested in who gets it. The need for this money and the need to get rid of it serve only to disrupt the life of a getaway driver and his newfound chance for a normal life.

Ryan Gosling plays a Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver for thieves. As the movie opens, he's helping two crooks after a heist. He is very methodical in his approach as he skillfully evades cops and gets away using perfect timing and maintaining his composure. The next day he is back on a movie set performing stunts in front of the cameras. He largely maintains a low profile and fields requests for his services through his handler Shannon (Bryan Cranston). His neighbor is Irene (Carey Mulligan). Her husband is in jail, and she raises their son Benicio (Kaden Leos) alone. The driver maintains his guard for nearly the entire movie, but upon meeting Irene, he opens up to show a different side. He takes her and her son out for a day trip, and for once he's free from the stresses of stunt driving and cops in pursuit. Irene's husband (Oscar Isaac) is released from prison one day and returns home to a family grateful to see him. His time in jail wasn't uneventful. He racked up debts while behind bars to buy protection, and now it's time to pay.

The driver's services are needed again. It sounds like a simple job to steal money, but shots are fired, and everything goes wrong. The driver, true to his reputation, gets away, but now he's left with a bag of money and owing an explanation to Irene for her husband's involvement. The money belonged to an East Coast mob outfit, and local mob toady Izzy (Ron Perlman) is on the receiving end of his boss's ire for drawing unwanted attention for trying to steal it. Boss Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks) aims to eliminate all ties to his circle, beginning with his associate Shannon. This tangled web will involve the driver, which puts Irene at risk because of her husband's role in the botched heist. With that, the plot is set in motion and the players are established. What follows is less about how the plot finds resolution than it is about how Refn can spin a highly stylized tapestry that shrouds these characters and events in a collage of musical and visual splendor.

This is not a movie that lacks story and characterization as a result of bad writing. Refn deliberately made a choice to avoid complexity, so he isn't using style to cover up for any shortcomings. A mob story involving missing money and revenge killings would normally invite comparison to intricate movies of the same vein, but Drive eschews a multilayered narrative for a chance at stimulating the senses. The soundtrack by Cliff Martinez is as good a place as any to start. His synthesized score finds the right beats not just to compliment emotion but to substitute for it. The opening scene highlights this perfectly. The driver and two thieves patiently time their escape after a robbery by waiting for the right opportunities to move. They say nothing. There's no backseat driving and no panicked expressions, yet the soundtrack thumps along at a pace that suggests deep down the occupants of that car consider capture a possibility. The thieves are definitely thinking it. They let the driver do his thing, but their stress level certainly goes up when a police car is only feet away. The driver doesn't appear bothered, but that's his nature. What's going on in his head is a different matter.

That's just the opening. There are a dozen scenes that rely on music and visuals that earn our admiration. An elevator scene featuring the driver and Irene is a thing of beauty before it shifts violently to a shocking attack against a third party. Elsewhere, the driver puts on a stunt mask to spy on his enemies. It should look absurd, but it doesn't. Refn allows the scene to unfold in a slow burn and adds the melodic "Oh My Love" by Riz Ortolani to form a surreal contrast to the driver's desire for revenge. Drive is very much about the journey rather than the destination. The plot finds resolution. The driver and Bernie will meet to settle the matter. This is a slick and stylish film with hints of neo-noir storytelling. It's great not because of intricate plotting or fascinating characters, but because it's not afraid to lay itself bare and allow us to appreciate its presentation over the standard reasons we go to movies. That’s only half of it. The other half comes down to execution, and as far as bare bones stories go, this is as masterful as it gets.

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