This movie was too cool for me. I always try, when sitting down to watch a
movie, to know as
little as possible about the movie. I like going
in completely blank. In this case, I did pretty good. I only knew:
the title, the DVD cover and that there was a million copies on the shelf at the
video store which lead me to believe it was a popular film. I didn't even read
the description on the back of the DVD case. So...based on the cover and the
title, I figured the film was about a guy who liked to
drive and since he was
holding a bloody hammer I figured either somebody really pissed him off
or maybe he was dressed up as ol' boi
from
OLDBOY
for Halloween.
The movie starts out okay enough with a rather subdued car chase scene and I use
the term "car chase" very loosely because it would barely even rate a 1-star
rating on GTA. After that, we're more formally introduced to the character of
Driver and there's not a lot going on there. In the daytime he's a part-time
mechanic/stunt car driver and at night he's a getaway driver for the highest
bidder. Sounds exciting, but it's not, because throughout all of this, Driver
just calmly chews on a toothpick and stares into space like he might not be
getting enough oxygen to his brain (or it could be that he never sleeps). Driver
comes across kinda like a heavily medicated Forrest Gump. He has the personality
of an ice cube and I guess that might be the point: maybe his robotic
performance is some kind of complex social commentary by the filmmakers about
desensitized, emotionally unavailable males in contemporary society or something
like that. I don't know and I don't give a fuck. I'm a simple-minded man (aka
idiot) and in my movies called DRIVE about getaway drivers holding bloody
hammers I want to see cars wrecking! A lot.
Anyway, as Fate would have it (and Fate is
really stretching it here) Driver's
neighbor just happens to be in debt deeply to the same mafia gangster guy that
Driver's business partner is in cahoots with. Small world huh? Anyway, Driver
doesn't know this when he agrees to help his neighbor rob a pawn shop. Almost
instantly the deal goes south and Driver ends up in a very bad situation.
The story is older than dirt, but oh well, it's nothing that a lot of character
development, violence and jaw-droppingly awesome car chases can't fix. Too bad
then there's a total of 7 minutes of car chases in this
entire movie...and that's including the
opening scene! The other 93 minutes are spent slowly telling a story that a
better filmmaker could have told in 40 minutes and then beefed up with
jaw-droppingly awesome car chases.
Bottom line: DRIVE is too in-your-face stylized for me, there's too many song
moments that come off like music videos, numerous plot holes, the action (what
little there is) is underwhelming, the story is ancient and filled with
unsympathetic characters, the pace is torture and worst of all the Driver
character is a bore. Not a bad movie, just one that I don't get. But don't take
my word for it, check it out for yourself. As for me I'll be in my room watching
THE ROAD WARRIOR. Maybe I'll re-visit DRIVE in a few decades when I'm wiser.
Wow. Computer generated blood. Awesome.
