By Nicholas Proch
Trailers to films often don’t tell us anything about what we are about to see when we actually get into the theater. What I was expecting to see this past weekend from Ryan Gosling in Drive wasn’t what I thought it was going to be, but that’s not to say I was disappointed.
If you’ve seen the trailers for Drive, you may be under the impression that this is a movie about a get-away driver. You’re probably expecting to see several chase scenes and an action packed two hours in your local movie theater establishment. You’re not.
You’re going to see a very well developed Ryan Gosling, far from the heartthrob he played in The Notebook. His character development is shown, not told throughout the movie. His performance carries this film to another level.
After you leave the theater, you should always reflect on the skills that the actors you just watched employed. Do you think you can be awkward? Do you think you can be under spoken? Think again. It takes a special person to be able to solely talk with their eyes. That is what Ryan Gosling does.
His character doesn’t have a name. It’s just ‘Driver’ in the credits. The whole film I was waiting to see if anyone said his name, but they don’t. This isn’t distracting in any way, but it’s worth noting how much this builds his character’s image on screen.
Couple Gosling’s effort with that of his supporting cast, which are equally strong, and you get a clinic as to what drama can really be.
There was a point in the film when I had to take out my phone (I’m sorry AMC movies for breaking your one rule) and check to make sure that Tarantino didn’t have his hands in this production in any way. It turns out he didn’t, of course, but it was shockingly similar to Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.
Drive was actually directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. I haven’t seen his other works, which include Valhalla Rising and Bronson, but I will certainly check them out.
Some small glitches and errors in videography do exist. The editing feels a little outdated, but this could be due to the fact that this is a fairly low budget film. At $13 million, when comparing it to the $60 million that Disney just spent to re-release The Lion King in 3-D, the sky is the limit as far as profit percentages are concerned.
If you’re looking to see an action-packed two hours of driving scenes, you’re mistaken. If you want that, you should probably wait to see the next Transporter. You’ll be teased with driving at times, but that just adds to how special the few driving scenes are. We’ve been given a gift by Refn, Gosling and the rest of the crew. They took a standard and overused genre and turned it on its head for the first time in a long time. Don’t miss this one, it’s going to be talked about for a long time.
