Drive - Ryan Gosling & Carey Mulligan [ SPOILERS FROM POST 219 ONWARD ]

mikemac · 26-09-2011 1:13pm

Good but wouldn't say I was blown away

The opening scene finishing at the basketball arena was brilliant and the beat in the background

Yes, the elevator, that kiss was a perfect opportunity to do the business but nothing happened??

Love the soundtrack.
Was that Brian Eno from Traffic?
Well I'll google it now but it's just what I was thinking of while watching it

Fysh · 26-09-2011 1:28pm

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I liked Hendrick's casting - the unglamorous polar opposite to her Mad Men role
although she does have a fondness for roles where she gets slapped around
. Sure, she may only have like five lines of dialogue, but I think she showed a bit of range in her limited screen time.

Perlman I agree on - his character was the weak link in all of this. I'm a Perlman fan, but his role here was a caricature, and not a very funny one. Maybe that's just because Brooks acted him off the screen.

She was alright, but let's be honest - there was very little required of her, and tbh given that she has a good range (as shown in Mad Men) it seemed a waste. Same with Perlman - an excellent actor who almost always brings the goods, and yet he was basically a watered-down version of his character in Sons of Anarchy.

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Also, surprised so many people are mentioning the violence. Maybe it's just because I watched the far bloodier Kill List a few weeks, and have become officially desensitised :P

I suspect it's because the violence was brutal but also somewhat matter-of-fact, whereas more often than not films with that level of violence are almost cartoonishly over-the-top.

karma_ · 26-09-2011 4:19pm

mikemac wrote: »

Good but wouldn't say I was blown away

The opening scene finishing at the basketball arena was brilliant and the beat in the background

Yes, the elevator, that kiss was a perfect opportunity to do the business but nothing happened??

Love the soundtrack.
Was that Brian Eno from Traffic?
Well I'll google it now but it's just what I was thinking of while watching it

It's Brian Eno on the Screener, the theatrical version has a different track.

I thought Drive was incredible, loved it and I thought it was a completely refreshing departure from the traditional action/car chase film, I hadn't seen the trailer before I went in so I was completely blown away, and yes the soundtrack is fantastic too.

The Dagda · 26-09-2011 5:30pm

Broads.ie wrote: »

How in the feck did it get 8.7 on imdb???

It's not a bad film, but it's totally overrated. The guy is the most boring character I've ever actually seen in a movie... and the story could have been told in 45 minutes, but the director decided to pad it out to 90mins with artsy fartsy shyte. And how did yer wan actually fancy him when he never actually spoke a word? She actually fell in love with him. Totally unrealistic and bollox.

Meh out of 10. Some great violence in it though.

I agree totally with you, I can't understand where all the reviews of 4 and 5 outta 5 are coming from, and on here all the lovin' of the opening scene is baffling me too!

there was good tension and maybe I'm reading it wrong but he left his clients to be caught by the five-oh and when he met an old client in the restaurant it was implied that he had failed at that job too

The "romance" was pretty poor too,

surely the issue of the husband would've come up in conversation (although conversations WOULD have taken a long time with all the extended pauses!) BEFORE she got the call he was coming home?!

the violence was pretty good although

the part where he crushed the hit-man's head reminded me of sin city

All-in-all disappointing 2.5 out of 5

Soundtrack 5 out of 5

Fysh · 26-09-2011 6:52pm

The Dagda wrote: »

I agree totally with you, I can't understand where all the reviews of 4 and 5 outta 5 are coming from, and on here all the lovin' of the opening scene is baffling me too!
there was good tension and maybe I'm reading it wrong but he left his clients to be caught by the five-oh and when he met an old client in the restaurant it was implied that he had failed at that job too

No, he

gave them the best opportunity possible to get away given the circumstances

. Given the nature of criminal enterprises, that's about as much as you can expect.

karma_ · 26-09-2011 6:57pm

Fysh wrote: »

No, he
gave them the best opportunity possible to get away given the circumstances
. Given the nature of criminal enterprises, that's about as much as you can expect.

I assumed that was the plan all along, to get to the stadium as the game finished so they could blend into the crowd.

billyhead · 26-09-2011 6:59pm

As others said I thought the soundtrack was good. I enjoyed this film. The dark atmosphere was good, and the violence was farily explicit

The Dagda · 26-09-2011 7:04pm

Fysh wrote: »

No, he
gave them the best opportunity possible to get away given the circumstances
. Given the nature of criminal enterprises, that's about as much as you can expect.

It seems strange to me that he was supposed to be the best getaway driver in the business and he

didn't do any real getaway driving, and it looked like they didn't getaway

The Dagda · 26-09-2011 7:08pm

karma_ wrote: »

I assumed that was the plan all along, to get to the stadium as the game finished so they could blend into the crowd.

I thought about that too but

if that was actually the case why didn't they specifically show the crims put on their LA hats and walk off into the crowd too, I suspect that what the director was trying to show was that he wasn't a good driver really, just a psychopath capable of extreme violence trying to be a getaway driver to stop his homicidal tendencies, hence the scorpian logo on his jacket and the reference to the scorpian and the frog fable later...

karma_ · 26-09-2011 7:22pm

The Dagda wrote: »

I thought about that too but
if that was actually the case why didn't they specifically show the crims put on their LA hats and walk off into the crowd too, I suspect that what the director was trying to show was that he wasn't a good driver really, just a psychopath capable of extreme violence trying to be a getaway driver to stop his homicidal tendencies, hence the scorpian logo on his jacket and the reference to the scorpian and the frog fable later...

Well, that's really all he was commissioned for so we don't have to see the criminals after he exits, it's not their story. He was definitely prepared for that, it became apparent why he was listening to the game and he had a clippers hat ready.

tunguska · 26-09-2011 9:18pm

Saw it last night and I thought it was a classy film. Atmosphere gets 10/10, ditto for photography and soundtrack. Opening car chase scene shouldve been extended, couldnt get enough of that.
Its a strange film overall though, the characters are fairly hollow and its definitely a case of style over substance. The violence is over the top and unnecessary, Ryan Gosling is cool, almost too cool though. They tried to show his character de-icing in the scenes with Carey mulligan, but his expression never changed. Similiar to the character clooney played in The American but I think George got the balance right whereas Gosling went too far overboard on being stoic.
That said I liked it a lot. Soundtrack was top notch, will be buying that one for definite.

red dave · 26-09-2011 9:50pm

Just saw this film after getting recommended by a friend...wow, I thought it was class. The tension in some of the scenes then the graphic violence was nuts. Quality soundtrack.

Tiny Explosions · 27-09-2011 1:33am

Broads.ie wrote: »

How in the feck did it get 8.7 on imdb???

It's not a bad film, but it's totally overrated. The guy is the most boring character I've ever actually seen in a movie... and the story could have been told in 45 minutes, but the director decided to pad it out to 90mins with artsy fartsy shyte. And how did yer wan actually fancy him when he never actually spoke a word? She actually fell in love with him. Totally unrealistic and bollox.

Meh out of 10. Some great violence in it though.

I agree with all of this except for "It's not a bad film".

I thought it was awful, one of the worst films of the year.

Screenplay must have been 30 pages long.....with 5 empty pages after each full page.:p
Another director could have made it a miles better film.:)
But its really a straight to DVD type film, senseless nonsense with boring music.

2/10

27-09-2011 1:42am

Just watched it and all I can say is WOW. It's rare that I ever watch a download over the cinema or Blu-Ray/DVD this was one of those occasions where I relented and while it didn't lessen my enjoyment of the film I do wish I'd held out till I got time to see it in the cinema. Defiantly going to be heading to see it in the coming week or two and it's a day one buy for sure.

I can understand a lot of the criticism of the film, the story is a little cliched and the characters 2D but that doesn't matter. There's a strange dream like quality to the film and I get the impression that it was intended as a fairytale of sorts. The similarities with the Transporter films are fair if somewhat simplistic.

There may not be much going on but its the way that it's handled that makes it so impressive. That Gosling can do so little and yet impress so much is testament to his ability as an actor. I really cannot imagine anyone else in the role, especially Hugh Jackman who was originally cast. I'm assuming that the Driver suffers from some form of autism, hence his odd interactions with people and the manner in which he handled awkward situations.

There's a lot of over reaction to the violence. I was expecting explicit, visceral violence and a

face caving in

on par with Irreversible but its very understated. It reminded me a lot of the films of Takeshi Kitano, in particular Hana-bi in that violence seemed to come out of nowhere. Perhaps it was the suddenness of it that has made such a lasting impression on people as I found it really rather tame and cannot understand how the film has an 18 cert over here. That said perhaps the final version has added CGI blood. I'm curious to see the pre MPAA version of the film, the

face stomping

is supposedly far more gory than the final version.

Fysh · 27-09-2011 10:13am

The Dagda wrote: »

It seems strange to me that he was supposed to be the best getaway driver in the business and he
didn't do any real getaway driving, and it looked like they didn't getaway

Despite what GTA/Driver/Need For Speed Most Wanted may have tried very hard to claim, getting away from police in hot pursuit when they have air support involved as well is unlikely to be easy when you're in the middle of a city where driving dangerously/at high speed will just bring even more attention on you. He was smart enough to outwit the helicopter, they were unlucky to run into a squad car after that, and the best chance for them to get away was to go into a busy baseball stadium's carpark at the end of a game.

The Dagda wrote: »

I thought about that too but
if that was actually the case why didn't they specifically show the crims put on their LA hats and walk off into the crowd too, I suspect that what the director was trying to show was that he wasn't a good driver really, just a psychopath capable of extreme violence trying to be a getaway driver to stop his homicidal tendencies, hence the scorpian logo on his jacket and the reference to the scorpian and the frog fable later...

I don't think the driving was the problem - they were unlucky and kept getting spotted by the cops. If you're being chased by police with air support, at some point you have to cut your losses and run - and I would assume, given the conversation he has at the very start of the film, that this was an implicit part of the deal. We're not shown whether the crims escape or not because the driver doesn't care one way or another - he's given them the best chance possible to get away, the rest is up to them. If they didn't want to get arrested, the best way to do that would be not to embark on an armed robbery.

Which is not to say that the Driver doesn't also have violent tendencies. The only time he seems truly measured and in control of himself during the film is when he's behind the wheel.

Deleted User wrote: »

There's a lot of over reaction to the violence. I was expecting explicit, visceral violence and a
face caving in
on par with Irreversible but its very understated. It reminded me a lot of the films of Takeshi Kitano, in particular Hana-bi in that violence seemed to come out of nowhere. Perhaps it was the suddenness of it that has made such a lasting impression on people as I found it really rather tame and cannot understand how the film has an 18 cert over here. That said perhaps the final version has added CGI blood. I'm curious to see the pre MPAA version of the film, the
face stomping
is supposedly far more gory than the final version.

Personally it's not the level of gore so much as the casual and sudden way in which several situations went from being tense but under control to being brutally violent. It was handled in a much more grounded and realistic manner than most high-profile films featuring that kind of violence, but only two characters in the film are emotionally healthy enough to be shocked by it.

Sudden Valley · 28-09-2011 12:06am

the suddenenss of the violence and the way it was shown on screen reminded me of a history of violence. But at least in that film there was some explanation for how the main character was so proficient at fighting in such a vicious manner- in this he didn't seem to have a violent past but suddenly became an expert brawler . Also I think Gosling is a good actor but don't think he was suited to play a monosyllabic character- sometimes it seemed he was shy other time it just looked like he was uninterested. Loved the film though

rossc007 · 28-09-2011 9:13am

Sudden Valley wrote: »

the suddenenss of the violence and the way it was shown on screen reminded me of a history of violence. But at least in that film there was some explanation for how the main character was so proficient at fighting in such a vicious manner- in this he didn't seem to have a violent past but suddenly became an expert brawler . Also I think Gosling is a good actor but don't think he was suited to play a monosyllabic character- sometimes it seemed he was shy other time it just looked like he was uninterested. Loved the film though

OT but love the username

dilallio · 28-09-2011 11:39am

karma_ wrote: »

It's Brian Eno on the Screener, the theatrical version has a different track.

I thought Drive was incredible, loved it and I thought it was a completely refreshing departure from the traditional action/car chase film, I hadn't seen the trailer before I went in so I was completely blown away, and yes the soundtrack is fantastic too.

I think the same song was also used in 28 Days Later.
I loved the soundtrack in the Movie - reminded me a lot of some of Michael Mann's use of music in his movies.

briany · 28-09-2011 1:03pm

When I watched the opening credits, saw the styling, saw the names who were going to be involved, I was thinking "YEAH!!!" but the film never quite lived up to the mark set by the opening sequence for me. I thought that it was just paced too slowly.

The relationship between Gosling and Carey didn't really pay off in any tangible way and I don't think that a romantic interest should even have been involved. Gosling's silent almost melancholy character should have been a loner and the film could have explored his own psyche rather than going down the trite "Let's introduce a vulnerable single mother and her child, and then they'll care!" route.

Giruilla · 28-09-2011 1:12pm

briany wrote: »

The relationship between Gosling and Carey didn't really pay off in any tangible way and I don't think that a romantic interest should even have been involved.

but pretty much everything that happened in the film was because of the romantic interest?

I would have liked if there were more scenes of showing how clever the driver was like in the opening scene, rather than the descent into violence.

briany · 28-09-2011 1:20pm

Giruilla wrote: »

but pretty much everything that happened in the film was because of the romantic interest?

I would have liked if there were more scenes of showing how clever the driver was like in the opening scene, rather than the descent into violence.

A romantic interest wouldn't have been the only way for him to become caught up in what he became caught up in. It could just as easily have been desperado brother of Cranston's character with a young family who was facing the same circumstances.

human repellent · 28-09-2011 2:25pm

For those asking did he leave the criminals.

I would have thought it was quite obvious that the plan was to go to the game.

Radio with the game being broadcast, hat and jacket to blend in.

WHY do we need to see two criminals that are a non-factor and have their story thrown in, it's his story. Not theirs.

PS: I thought it was the best movie i've seen in a while.

dlofnep · 28-09-2011 2:26pm

Watched it last night with little expectations. It was pretty good, but had a different kind of vibe to it. The pace was unusual, but the acting was solid. Story wasn't overly complex - but it managed to work just right.

Sad Professor · 28-09-2011 6:09pm

I saw this this afternoon and loved it. I can understand the style over substance criticism, but I'm a big believer in the idea of style as substance in cinema. Before going in, I was reading an interview with Refn in which he said it's a film about a guy who drives around at night listening to music. That sums up it pretty well. A good movie don't have to be about multi-facted characters or themes or intellectual ideas. Sometimes it can just be about a hot-shot driver, his car, a girl and some bad guys. I'm not a fan of Godard, but I'd put this film in the same sort of category as Breathless.

And for godsake, people, go see this in the cinema! The screening I was at was empty and from the looks of it many of the multiplexes are going to ditch this next week.

arsenallegend · 28-09-2011 6:33pm

Got to say this film was great from start to finish. The violence was crazy and came out of nowhere and Ryan Gosling has been forgiven for the Notebook after this and Blue Valentine and Half Nelson. He's certainly the best young actor in Amercia. He had the coolness of a young Steve Mcqueen. Refn has cemented his place in Hollywood with this and i love the soundtrack to this as well. It reminded me of Grand theft Auto:p

Ron Prealman Albert Brooks and Bryan Cranston were brillant. Carey Mulligan did good in a underwritten role.

THis is destined to be a cult classic that will be passed around on DVD or blu-ray by film buffs in years to come.

arsenallegend · 28-09-2011 6:37pm

Sad Professor wrote: »

I saw this this afternoon and loved it. I can understand the style over substance criticism, but I'm a big believer in the idea of style as substance in cinema. Before going in, I was reading an interview with Refn in which he said it's a film about a guy who drives around at night listening to music. That sums up it pretty well. A good movie don't have to be about multi-facted characters or themes or intellectual ideas. Sometimes it can just be about a hot-shot driver, his car, a girl and some bad guys. I'm not a fan of Godard, but I'd put this film in the same sort of category as Breathless.

And for godsake, people, go see this in the cinema! The screening I was at was empty and from the looks of it many of the multiplexes are going to ditch this next week.

the sad thing is Crazy Stupid Love Gosling Rom-com will do brillantly while Drive will fade away in the cinema simply cause its been given the "art house" action film tag and you know thats te kiss of death with a commercial audience. But simply put Drive will be a Classic in years to come and no one will remeber that rom com tosh.

johnny_ultimate · 28-09-2011 7:29pm

It does disappoint me how many people I've read talking about a screener. If you don't live near a film fair enough, but if you can at all see it is intended it's definitely the optimal choice.

As for the style as substance argument, I'd agree to a point. But over 90+ minutes, you need something to hook on to, especially during the 'downtime'. It's definitely a better film than Avatar, but I'd level the same criticism at Drive as I did with that - once you 'get over' the style, so to speak, and you still have half the film to go, you need more. Drive didn't always provide that for me, and while the second half is littered with some great moments -

Cranston vs Brooks, the lighthouse beach scene (although TBH I thought they kind of synched the light somewhat better)

- it kind of blew it's most valuable load (to use an obscene statement) in the first fifteen minutes with the spine-tingling prologue. Drive never quite re-reached those heights IMO, despite hints of greatness (usually the scenes that were soundtracked).

Again, no doubt Drive is a good if not great film, but I think some pre-release exaggeration in some quarters led to somewhat of an Emperor's New Clothes end product for me.

Sad Professor · 28-09-2011 8:26pm

I do take your point, but I wouldn’t consider Avatar a stylish film. An extremely well made film, yes, but style and technique aren’t the same thing. I tried watching Avatar on Blu-ray a while ago and it’s just so bloody bland. It lacks both style and substance. The only stamp that Cameron leaves on his films is his technical proficiency. Without a decent story and characters, his films are terribly bland affairs.

For me a film like Drive is so distinctive and interesting in how it’s made that I didn’t feel it needed anything more. I’ve seen the same plot and story in many previous films, and I’ve seen violence and car chases as well, but I’ve never seen it done quite like this. Many critics have drawn comparisons with Le Samourai, which is a favorite of mine. Drive has that same sort of cinematic coolness to it as Melville’s film.

But as I said, it is basically a film about a guy who drives a car at night listening to music, so strictly speaking it does lack what is generally considered substance. I don’t think it’s best film of the year of anything like that, but I had zero expectations based on the trailer and was blown away by just how good it was.

The opening sequence is indeed the best part of the film though. While I enjoyed everything that followed, I agree that none of it really topped the brilliance of the first 10 minutes.

johnny_ultimate · 28-09-2011 8:49pm

Oh, don't get me wrong, don't think Avatar is good either :P It's just for the first (half) hour of the film I was willing to forgive (ignore?) the story and just take in Pandora. That's all it has going for it, and it's enough for a certain period of time, but eventually many audience members want more than just pretty CGI. Same with Drive, albeit in an entirely different way: the 'coolness' was hypnotic for the first act and into the second, but there were no more of those true suckerpunches earlier scenes performed. Once I was used to the style, I thought Refn didn't have many tricks up his sleeve. Luckily, his major trick is often a magnificent one. Also, good to see the long and tracking shot getting some love

I can't stress enough that I liked it. It was just quietly frustrating for me, because I was truly hoping throughout that the film would really have that extra push towards greatness. Films as distinctive as this need to be applauded and slapped on the back, even if they're not entirely successful. But it takes a very special kind to make me want to shout about it from the rooftops. Drive will have to make do with a second storey window

Also, perhaps a further victim of hype. I remember hearing so many good things after preview screenings, and some reviewers whipped out their hyperbole handbooks. A further lesson in going in blind!

Sad Professor · 28-09-2011 9:22pm

Yeah, I was mostly blind going in. I had heard the buzz, but I hadn’t read any reviews. Once I establish that a film is worth seeing I try to avoid them. I watched the trailer again last night and thought “this can’t possibly be good”. In fact, I think the trailer makes the film look very by-the-numbers, which is probably one of the reasons why my screening was empty today.

Drive - Ryan Gosling & Carey Mulligan [** SPOILERS FROM POST 219 ONWARD **]

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Drive - Ryan Gosling & Carey Mulligan [ SPOILERS FROM POST 219 ONWARD ]