drive (2011) review

I'm a big fan of Ryan Gosling. Outside of the "literally me" memes (which deserve their own post), I just think he's a solid actor who's been in some interesting movies¹. This had me pretty excited to watch Drive, since I've heard from a few different places that this might just be his best film. Maybe it was me going in with my expectations being too high, but spoiler alert: I very much do not agree.

First, I'll start with the good. As can be expected from this cast, the performances are amazing. Ryan Gosling shows his skill at subtle, wordless acting. Carey Mulligan puts a surprising amount of depth in a character which I feel otherwise has none. Bryan Cranston manages the perfect balance of being a shyster while still being believable as good guy who people want to have around. Everyone here is a joy to watch in a way that few movies are able to pull off.

The cinematography is also gorgeous. It almost feels inspired by Wes Anderson in how the shots feel like statements in and of themselves. You have static shots which characters move through in order to emphasise or de-emphasise their roles in the scene, you have shots where the space-filling background somehow helps the cast themselves stand out, you have shots that invite you to stare at them and soak in the details, it really is a visual treat. The long shots help contribute to this, and create an atmosphere in which both the fast-paced chase scenes and the slow dialogue (or lack thereof) have the same intentional sense of direction. Regardless of anything else I say, if you enjoy movies for their visuals then this isn't one to miss.

Unfortunately for Drive, that's where the good ends. I find it difficult to describe my problems with this movie since it feels like some of them are almost too odd to sound real, but I'm going to try. The most conspicuous problem to me is the choice of music. A few times the soundtrack brings in some synthwave-y songs which don't fit any of the scenes well and are trying way to hard to feel like they came straight out of a cool 80's movie. It gets to the point where it's actively distracting, since you'll have scenes of characters bonding interrupted by "a real human being and a real hero" which feels so bizarre as to border on parody.

While we're on the topic of bizarre as to border on parody, this movie's approach to nudity is so strange that I would've called it parody if I didn't know the context. There's a scene which (for no relevant plot reason) takes place in the dressing room of a strip club. Naturally, there are a number of topless women around the scene, which already feels like it exists only for cheap sex appeal. Then, in the middle of two characters having a heated conversation, the camera cuts to a closeup shot on one of the women's chest for no particular reason. It doesn't match the conversation, it doesn't match the tone, it just happens. I don't have any major problem with nudity in movies, but this feels uniquely both objectifying to the women involved and like an insult to the audience. It's almost as if the director can't expect us to pay attention during a conversation between two characters so we have to flash a naked lady in order to make sure we don't get on our phones or something. I legitimately don't know how else to frame it, that's how strange and out of place it is.

Finally, the relationship between the main character (who is never given a name) and his love interest (whose name I've since forgotten) goes from a little bit basic romcom but otherwise good to completely inhuman over the course of the movie. At one point, the main character is slapped by the girl after she finds out he was involved in her husband's death², after which they both get in an elevator with another guy . We get a shot showing that this other guy has a gun and that our main character knows it, and so he pushes the love interest behind him, turns around and kisses her, and then violently and bloodily stomps the other guy's head in while the girl stands there terrified before leaving the elevator. Our main character had every reason to do this since the guy with a gun was a hitman sent to kill both of them, but the love interest has no way of knowing this. At the end of the movie (spoilers) right as Ryan Gosling is dying, we get a shot of the girl where she tries to call him and touches her lip while doing so. Afterwards, she walks to his apartment door and knocks, before walking back to her room since he isn't there (he's busy dying on the other side of the city). She just witnessed a guy tell her that her husband is dead in mysterious circumstances, kiss her randomly, and then violently murder someone for what seemed like no reason. Somehow, after all that, she is still implied to want him. I desperately want it to be the case that she was afraid of him and was knocking on his door to make sure he wasn't there, but that is so very clearly not how the scene was played. This isn't even a sexism thing, it's just a really poorly and inconsistently written character.

There are some other things I could nitpick³, but at the end of the day I don't think any of those things change the overall picture much. Needless to say, I didn't care for this movie and I don't even particularly understand why other people hold it in such high regard. I read a few other reviews and came away just as confused as I did going in, it still didn't make any sense to me. If you love this movie and think I'm out of line, I'd be more than happy to hear your thoughts over email. Until then:

Has serious problems.