The best movie of 2011.
Recently saw this again over the weekend as I showed it to Kelsi for the first time. She was blown away, which is the same reaction I first had when I saw this in theaters back in the fall; however, the audience I shared the experience with had quite a different opinion. Heading to a midnight showing on a Wednesday (yeah… my life’s epic) I sat in with about 15 other people. Over the course of the movie there were many hecklers, a few people walked out, and – I kid you not – one dude in the front fell asleep and began snoring. Luckily there was a loud gunshot that rang in over the speaker system the abruptly woke the man up nearly making drop to the floor in terror. He walked out shortly after as well. Although I was entranced throughout the entire movie, I left thinking I must be crazy. It seemed no one else was into it at all. Once I heard from trusted friends who had seen it how much they loved it, my fears were put aside.
I’m not entirely sure if everyone has seen this yet, but seeing as yesterday marked the official DVD release (by Sony – go make me some money, bitches!), I thought it appropriate to give it a little shout-out.
The best movie of 2011. Have I stated this already? Well, maybe it’s important to reiterate myself. Regardless of being snubbed at this year’s Oscars, this is my favorite movie of the year. (Ok, so maybe I haven’t seen The Artist or The Descendants yet, but unless they have a scene where some guy’s face gets brutally stomped in on an elevator, I doubt I will change my mind.) With an all-star cast (Gosling, Perlman, Brooks, Cranston, Mulligan) this is the story of a laconic car mechanic/Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as an illegal getaway driver for various crooks. He falls in love with his neighbor and her kid until her delinquent husband is released from prison. When the husband and family’s lives are threaten when he refuses to take another heist to pay off his debts, Gosling offers his services to help save everyone. Of course, everything goes wrong during a simple pawn store robbery and Gosling is forced to wipe everyone out in order to keep his love and her kid safe from harm.
Director, Nicolas Refn, is up there as one of my favorite directors after his work here as he takes an action movie to places I’ve never seen the genre go before. The car chase scenes don’t play out like a typical action movie. Rather everything is slow and methodical, building excitement and suspense. Now, the opening police chase through the streets of LA would never work out like it did here (he zooms into the Staples Center parking lot with no trouble – I’ve once waited 45 minutes just to push pass the entrance!), but you suspend your disbelief. And the soundtrack. It's got an 80's themed techno sound that's just entrancing.
I could ramble on and on about all the things I love, but in the end it's really just the main character, The Driver. You've got this figure with no past who seems like this gentle dude who happens to be an amazing driver. Then when push comes to shove and he has to defend his girl, the mask comes off and he becomes this ruthless, violent killer. Then in classic Western genre style, he takes off into the night after saving the day, moving onto whatever is next.
I know I'll probably regret ever saying this, but I want to see this character in action again. I want a sequel. (You can now commence your "booing" at me.)
Yeah, this was awesome. Despite being a movie set in modern times it really captures the feel of the 80's without ever trying too hard. The car chases were few and far between, but instead of going over the top with action they were slow and tense, unlike any I have seen before. Still though, I will commence with the booing, because I really like where the movie left off- we know just enough about the driver- he's a quiet man who will go to extreme lengths to protect those he cares about- and it's up to the viewer to decide what happens next in his life.
ReplyDeleteI actually have a confession to make. I too dozed off during this movie. In my defense, it was near the beginning, and it was for like two minutes at most. Still, turrible, I know.
ReplyDeleteIt's tough for me to pinpoint what specifically made this movie work so well for me. Was it the effective juxtaposition of '80s music against brutal violence? Was it the completely unwarranted but very awesome escalation of said violence throughout the film, with each death more gruesome and gratuitous than the last? Was it the sheer minimalism and simplicity of both the main character and the plot? I'm sure it was all of the above and more, but yeah, for various reasons, I agree with you. Best movie of 2011. (It helps that 2011 was a horrible year for movies. Have you seen the list of Oscar nominees this year? Of course you have. Promise me 2012 will be better, dammit.)
Also, I'm with Sween in supporting the "one and done" opinion. Any sequel to Drive would by default need to pick up with the energy and brutality that Drive ended with, and I just don't see it happening effectively without jumping into total "over-the-top" territory. That approach works on totally campy shit like Crank or Fast and the Furious, but I think (perhaps wrongly) that Drive was a legitimately good movie and not just a camp-fest.