Jumat, 17 Agustus 2012

A film you'll probably either love or loath...just look at the reviews here

Drive UltraViolet Digital Copy Blu ray

Drive UltraViolet Digital Copy Blu ray

`Drive' really surprised me. I was never really interested in seeing this, I'd read the articles and seen the posters and ended up dismissing it, I only watched it because there wasn't anything else and didn't have high expectations. But, as it turns out, the film really blew my first impressions away. Instead of being bored, I found myself drawn into the film and caring for its characters, the acting was spot-on and Refn's direction made this movie a real gem.

Ryan Gosling is Driver, a solitary guy who works as a mechanic and stunt car driver by day and getaway driver-for-hire at night, that is until he meets his neighbour, Irene (Carey Mulligan), and her son. The more time he spends with them, he falls for Irene in a somewhat romantic fairy tale....until it all comes crashing down when Irene's ex-con husband (Oscar Isaac) returns, bringing with him trouble and compelling Driver to protect Irene and her son from gangsters.

What really stops this movie from becoming a cookie-cutter action-drama film is the fact that director Nicolas Winding Refn concentrates on giving us well-rounded characters. It's the characters that drive `Drive', not the action or the story and Refn's stylistic way of shooting it - with slow-motion and lingering shots of characters and still camera work - makes sure that what's unspoken speaks the loudest as he leaves it up to you to interpret their feelings and thoughts. It's not what happens when they speak, but more what goes unspoken through looks and body language. I don't know what you call it - noir or artistic or whatever - it's an approach that's been used by many directors before, but it makes `Drive' absorbing to watch.

Of course, it wouldn't work without the actors giving top-notch performances and nobody lets the movie down here. Gosling is magnetic as Driver, conveying layers of emotion without uttering a word in some scenes. Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman also give stellar performances that make them more than one-dimensional villains. The one surprise for me was Bryan Cranston, I don't watch `Breaking Bad', but he proves he can stretch his acting chops far beyond quirky sit-com comedy characters. Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac, the criminally underused Christina Hendricks, all did admirably and were very believable in their roles.

There are scenes of action throughout the film as well and they can be shockingly brutal, especially when compared to the mostly quiet tone of the film, one particular character's demise from a shot gun through a window will stick with me for a while and the car chases are tight and well executed.

But this isn't an action film first, if I had to call it something, I'd say it's more like an artsy, character-driven drama. Whether you'll enjoy it or not probably depends on whether you think long, quiet, reflective scenes with lingering shots of characters staring at each other are thought-provoking and beautiful, or a director being self-indulgent and pretentious. Personally, I loved it because it engaged me emotionally and the cinematography work was stunning, this is one that stayed with me long after the credits rolled.

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