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Also Known As: - |
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| Year of first release: 2011 | |
| Director: Nicolas Winding Refn (Pusher 1-3, Valhalla Rising) | |
| Actors: Ryan Gosling (Crazy Stupid Love, All Good Things), Carey Mulligan (The Great Gatsby), Bryan Cranston (Godzilla), Ron Perlman (Pacific Rim) | |
| Country: USA | |
| Genre: Thriller, Drama | |
| Conditions of visioning: 16.01.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema | |
| Synopsis: He is a gifted escape driver (Gosling), living a simple life outside of that. He gets closer to his neighbour Irene (Mulligan), until his routine live unexpectedly changes. | |
| Review: I know of Nicolas Winding Refn (or NWR) since I watched and loved his Pusher trilogy at a period when I discovered Danish cinema, so I was curious to see his first American movie after the two British co-productions Valhalla Rising and Bronson, rather disappointing to me. There was a lot of talk around Drive when it went out but in the end I think people didn't really like it, probably because there were expecting something more in the line Fast & Furious. And the is understandable: there are indeed very few car chase scenes in the movie. Instead, there are (very) long introductory scenes in which the hero barely utters a word, and some shock scenes which may have startled the ones not accustomed to WFR's style (just watch Pusher 3: The Angel of Death to see how far he can go). But there are a few chase scenes, in particular the opening one, which are very well done and with an amazing soundtrack and sound mixing. The 70's-80's soundtrack across the whole movie is pleasant and the Blu-ray rendering of it is one of the best I have ever encountered. No wonder Drive got nominated at the Academy Awards for best achievement in sound editing. I also liked the beautiful aerial night shots of Los Angeles, something very hard to achieve in good quality, even the night Hong-Kong scenes in The Dark Knight Returns don't look that good. It is nice to see Ron Perlman (I like this actor) in a role of bastard that ressembles his one in the Sons of Anarchy TV-series. So definitely a good movie for me (and I like the unexpected excesses of violence), but slow and quiet outside of the action scenes. Maybe because Ryan Gosling does not show his best side when he speaks. We have seen him in other productions from around or after that time (Crazy Stupid Love, The Place Beyond the Pines, The Ides of March, Only God Forgives, All Good Things, not bad for the former Young Hercules) and he is indeed not talking much in some of those roles, but not all. In Drive it was also part of the Driver character. |
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Rating: 7 /10
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More than entertainment, an Art.
Monday, January 19, 2015
Drive (2011)
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When I saw Drive in the movie theater, I had been amazed by the force of the combination music and scenes. These fit perfectly together. I had the same impression Only God forgives by Refn as well. Unlike Only God forgives, Ryan Gosling has to play a closed face in Drive and does it well, the music and the amazing and beautiful Carey Mulligan bringing the dramatic atmosphere. I loved this way to increase the suspense for its creativity and use of the senses excited by the cinema (ears and eyes).
ReplyDeleteAs in good Hitchock movies, Refn understood that having a good actor for the bad guy, like Ron Perlman, makes the movie even better. My rating would have been of 9/10..
I also loved the movie the first time I saw it and from memory I would have rated it 8/10 or 9/10, but the second viewing (once the surprise effect passed) made me notice the downsides I mentionned, especially the slow rhythm.
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