Cinema 2011 # : Drive

Drive is an auteur’s action flick, a fiercely violent fairy-tale in which Ryan Gosling’s unnamed protagonist oscillates between hero and villain at breakneck speed and effortless cool. Directed by Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, renowned for his edgy and dramatically flourished biopic Bronson and layered Viking project Valhalla Rising, the film was originally earmarked as a vehicle for British B-movie behemoth Neil Marshall and Hugh Jackman, before stalling into lapsed developmental hell. Based on James Sallis’ 158-page neo-noir novella of the same name, Gosling became attached to the project in early 2010, and chose Refn to helm this LA noir, scaling back Hossein Amini’s script into a taught, brutal and stylised masterpiece.  

For the most part dressed in leather driving-gloves and white satin jacket in a clear reference to Steve McQueen’s iconic role in 1971’s Le Mans, Gosling plays the driver, a Hollywood stunt-driver who moonlights as a getaway-man for the seedy criminal underbelly of contemporary Los Angeles. Offering nothing more than his superior skills in the driving seat and a five-minute window to render his services, the film opens with the driver helping two thieves evade the LAPD in a sequence that shows off not only his Stig-like expertise behind a steering wheel, but also the brilliant strategic cunning going on as he plots a route to safety in a cat and mouse game with a police helicopter. 

In fairness, he'd really been hitting the gym.

A man of few words, his only friend appears to be Bryan Cranston’s mechanic Shannon, a former stuntman himself, who’s hoping to launch the driver as the new Evil Kenevil, if only he can gather enough money to buy a stock car for a travelling show. Enter Jewish Mob-boss Bernie Rose, Albert Brooks playing distinctly against type, who offers to bankroll the gig, seeing serious money to be made off the driver’s prowess. Meanwhile, the driver’s icy demeanour has started to thaw as he begins a tentative relationship with next-door neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her young son, but trouble looms when her husband Standard Gabriel (Oscar Isaac) is released from jail and still has debts to pay.

Ultimately, a deal goes sour, and the driver takes matters into his gloved hands to try and right them, as honourably as possible. But Bernie’s partner Nino, Ron Perlman chewing up the screen as a conniving goon, wants scores settled, through violence and vengeance, and everything and everyone are suddenly in danger as Refn rockets up the tension and suspense.

The film is supremely stylish, a polished and sleek edition to the canon of contemporary neo-noirs shining new light on the shadowy side of downtown LA. Everything in the production, from seasoned DOP Newton Thomas Sigel’s cinematography to Erin Benach’s costume design, lends Drive a distinct sense of 1980s’ decadence, counterpointing schlock thrillers of Reagan-era America against the mindless car pornography of the likes of The Fast and the Furious. Cliff Martinez’s synth-inspired score fuels the thrilling driving sequences, graphic violence and emotional stirrings perfectly, and is an integral part of the film’s narrative given its sparse dialogue.

The staring contest had reached its gripping finale

In terms of the acting, Drive is centred around a magnetic performance from Ryan Gosling, dominating the film as the reticent lead, whose silence belies a ferocious intellect. It’s a performance that is brilliantly nuanced, a chauffeuring Cheshire Cat, whose soft smile seduces Irene while forming hard fists with which to pulverise threats in scenes of surprise and shocking violence. Gosling, already touted as the leading actor of his generation, is something akin to DeNiro in Taxi Driver in this, enigmatic and charming, deadly and dominant, his driver not the sort of direction typically expected from a former Mouseketeer. 

While cutey-pie kids warming the cockles of cocksure characters' hearts are ten a penny in the Hollywood Hills, the interplay between the driver and Benicio, Irene's son, is warm and honest, lending the driver a sense of shyness to go along with his reserved silence. 

Bryan Cranston, the hardest-working man in Hollywood these days, lends his Shannon a hankering hangdog quality that shows just why he’s so in demand. Carey Mulligan, with probably the most underwritten part, does well with her piecemeal role, making the near silent courtship between the two leads believable and tender. The female parts are the film's one flaw, a touch too underdeveloped, and Christina Hendricks role amounts to a glorified cameo, memorable though it is. As the antagonist, Albert Brooks’ Bernie is a fantastic villain, cool and darkly boiling under the surface, layered with menace and a proclivity for bladed weapons, which he wields with dangerous capacity. It’s an atypical role for Brooks, and a reminder of how talented the veteran actor really is.

All brought together under Refn’s excellent direction, Drive is a thrill ride of pot boiling tension and sumptuous style.

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Released Nationwide: September 23rd

Certificate: 18

Runtime: 100 mins