DRIVE - new film from Nicolas Winding Refn - Page 4

Just finished watching the movie - enjoyed it very much. 8.5 out of 10. I was very impressed with the production values of DRIVE especially as it was made on a shoe-string budget . . . only $15 million.

IMO, the graphic violence was done specifically because the movie was to receive an R rating. If it wasn't there, the film would not have been as enjoyable. It was an integral part of the movie - the opposite of the quiet, moody scenes. Sort of a Ying to Yang situation.

The Driver is a very complex personality. And something very refereshing today . . . he dispatches his enemies without a gun.

What's complex about him?

He is a man whose life consists of opposites to the extreme. And that is what I would call complex.

I wouldn't. The character is completely passive for 90% of the movie, and then lashes out in tiny bursts of rage. That's not terribly complex, IMO. It's a simplified idea of "complexity." If he had truly been a complex character, he would experience a range of emotions between those two extremes, or at least would be capable of giving thought to his situation.

Driver has nothing going on behind the eyes. At all.

Did you consider the possibility that the character was too complex .....

.....for you?

Why are you limiting your definition of "complex" simply to violence? The fact that he is a movie stunt driver by day and a wheelman for hire by criminals by night - you don't think that qualifies as "complex?" All the moralitiy issues that brings up?

Maybe Kilgore is right in his assumption huh?

I don't have a dog in this fight, but everyone has a point to some degree IMO.

That doesn't qualifies as complex. I think the only reason why "complex" is even used to describe the character is because he is stoic and silent. He's mysterious is what he is.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/complex

Rented this last night...

The driver didn't talk much...

There was a lot of blood...

The cars were cool...

Umm, no. Just because he does two things doesn't automatically make him complex. There's no internal conflict in the character. He is what he is, and he doesn't change or grow.

Yep, the version of Driver's character portrayed in the film reminded me of what Gertrude Stein said about her childhood home in Oakland: "There's no there there."

The fact that he is always calm, restraint, even kind, and then suddenly able to disfigure and kill a man in an elevator makes him complex. I'm not saying better or worse than another person, just complex. ....."a system of interrelated, emotion-charged ideas, feelings, memories, and impulses that is usually repressed and that gives rise to abnormal or pathological behavior".... I think he's depressive, clinically, pathologically, irrevocably depressive. Maybe he's even suicidal who knows. He would fit the profile. I agree with Lee and I think it's pretty clear throughout the movie that this man probably has a lot of secrets. How do we know there's no internal conflict in that character? The fact that we indeed don't see him change or grow doesn't change the fact that the guy seems to have issues.

Good points, but there was (IMO) insufficient backstory or illumination into what the character was...what was motivated him to do what he did.
Because of this deficiency in basic storytelling, I lost interest and became bored.

As Siskel and Ebert said long ago: the audience has to "care" (in the broadest sense of the word) about the characters.
.

You can use "Die Hard" as a counter example on how to quickly build a character you can care about.

Glad to see I wasn`t the only one who felt this Movie didn`t quite measure up. 6 out of 10, no re- viewing or buying here.

I watched this with a pal the other night.

Ultimately I enjoyed it and even loved what it was attempting to do. I appreciate the pace, and also the subtlety in many of it's moments. The first heist being a great example, where the camera keeps you in the car with them, hearing just the realistic sounds of the engine form an interior perspective. It was so nice to see the director forgo the standard exterior, swooping camera shots and pounding music for a car chase. So my immediate thoughts were "Thank you...ok...you've got me for now..."

I also enjoyed the soundtrack and overall retro-80's vibe. Hey...why not? It's fun, and something different, another odd quirk (and I'm a soundtrack junkie, so I welcome quirky soundtracks).

I thought it was a fairly compelling plot as well, actually more plot than I was expecting in terms of twists and turns, and turning the screws tighter on the Driver.

That said I'd cite some of the same problems that others have, that stopped this film from being truly killer. One was the too-deliberate sounding minimilism with the dialogue, particularly between the driver and Irene.
It was a combo of Gosling's blank-slate performance, the editing and the script. The pauses didn't seem full of unspoken emotion, so much as it was like watching people who had forgotten how to speak. My pal shouted "SAY SOMETHING!" more than once at the screen.

The other is of course Gosling's performance. It didn't quite work for reasons Josh and others have cited. Because there was nothing going on behind Gosling's stare most of the time, the lack of dialogue, the stares-instead-of-words, because painful. Instead of a feeling of depth to the character, it more typically inspired a sense of impatience, because there was nothing going on in those spaces.

Now, I don't think Gosling's performance was a total failure. They guy does have some natural charisma. And sometimes his lack of reaction could add a sense of intrigue, given how uncharacteristic such "cool" or blank reactions are from someone encountering various stressful conditions. For instance, his demeanor DID really work for me during the first robbery get away. I WAS trying to figure out what he was doing and thinking and had to admire his cool-under-pressure. That was also the case in some other scenes. But it was unfortunately balanced by the times when his performance sucked some depth or interest out of what was going on.

If Gosling had nailed it, if the driver had a Steve McQueen type charisma that kept an intriguing energy buzzing in the silences, then this film could have been something of a minor classic, a little "perfect film" in terms of giving us an adult-paced, quirky thriller and character study.

As it is, it was close enough that I found myself appreciative of it's efforts, and enjoyed myself.

For those of you who still spin vinyl, Invada Records (UK) has a pre-order page up on their website.

http://www.twentyfourbit.com/2012/04...vinyl-release/

http://www.invada.co.uk/drive

Your rating matches mine pretty much, 8.5 or 9 out of 10. Really enjoyed this with a last weekend rental. Different from most of the fare out today and also a great throwback in many ways. For me it melded Sergio Leone and Quentin Tarantino with a light dash of David Lynchness.

This is a movie that is not going to be everyone's cup of tea; I can completely understand someone not getting into the spirit of the movie and getting irritated. In this film the story is much more about what is not being said and shown than what is being said and shown. Both of my thumbs up and I'll be looking for this around Black Friday time as one of my rare disc purchases.

Saw this the other week, it's pretty ok but I wouldn't give it more than a 5 or 6 of 10.

The main problem in my opinion is the main character and the story around that charcter.
As some here has already stated.

I thought the beginning of the movie was really well made, with the hide n' go seek with the cops.
It was a good start with the stunt-driver-by-day/wheel-man-by-night plot but after that first 10 mins I thought it went downhill from there.

Perlman/Perlmans-character wasn't that great in this movie.

The movie had it's moments I won't deny that.
But in the end it seems that they tried to give the movie "brains" by limiting the dialoge and make it "mysterious" (in terms of charcters and plot).
They tried too hard and it shows.

This was not the greatest movie but I was entertained from beginning to end. It was slow but I was prepared for that and it had enough anticipation that I was able to relax and enjoy the ride. Maybe that had to do with reading the thread beforehand. You either liked it or you didn’t; very little middle ground with this movie. Amazon shows 220 five stars and 144 one star.

The night shots of L.A. were spectacular. The lighting at different points in the movie was excellent. One such time was when RG and CM were in the elevator and, after a kiss, the light that was cast on the top of their heads went from low to a couple of notches higher. But my favorite camera shot was when RG was driving into the garage and saw the two men that beat up his neighbor. When RG pulls into his parking spot, the way his car just slid into the spot was as smooth as silk. That was an awesome sequence.

The violence was perfect. Short, graphic, and to the point.

Ryan Gosling. I’m a RG fan, but I don’t think he’s gotten to the point in his career where he can do just any character. I think he’s still limited and he may never get there; only time will tell. I didn’t have a problem with the way he played the character or that there wasn’t anything “behind the eyes” because there wasn’t meant to be anything there to begin with. He was zombie-like because he lacked feelings and emotions. We don’t know his back-story but we can assume he had issues to be such a flat individual. Could someone else have been better cast?

Yes. Peter Stormare. Basically, he played the RG character in Fargo. The CM character and her family would needed to have been older, but he would have also brought the physical presence. It takes more than wearing a jacket with a scorpion on the back to be a tough guy. You don’t need to be a giant to kick someone’s booty who is larger than you, but RG wasn’t convincing. The elevator scene; get serious. You want someone who isn’t big in stature but can convince you he can still kick your a**; Ed Norton, my second choice for the lead in this movie. CM and family could have remained and Ed would have been spot on. Ed is so versatile that he can play the choirboy or the psycho.

The only time I shook my head was when RG rammed RP and sent him and his car onto the sandy beach. There, overlooking the wreckage, sat a car without a dent and two intact headlights. Christine I could believe; Drive, not so much.

I did like the music and I could watch this again.

Never underestimate the might of the front end of the 1973 Chevelle

Sorry, I don't buy Ed Norton as the lead in this flick.

Caught this on Netflix Instant last night. Not sure what all the hype was about but I liked it though. Some really good camera spots.

Technically, this film is spot on. Breathtaking. But the script and direction and it's blatant copying 80's Michael Mann... I am unsure how I feel about it. Just a strange film.

Gosling's next film due out this fall will be none other than a film about a motorcycle stunt rider who considers a life of crime to support his family.,,Drive on 2 wheels. Not great news for those who didn't like Drive. Sounds like the boy found his niche. And then after that will re-team revisit another Nicolas Winding Refn film based in Bangkok crime mob that involves Mui Thai. And then somewhere in between there's the big star studded ensemble Gangster Squad...looking good in the neighborhood