Driver Review - Joshua Martin-Corrales

The first I heard of 'Drive' was on Conan O'Brian, where the only real thing they talked about was Ryan Gosling's jacket in the movie, and I wasn't exactly interested in it. When I heard all the buzz about it, I asked my sister, who had seen it in theaters, and she said, "I don't see why it wasn't nominated for anything." Now, I've seen the movie, and I can't help but agree, why the hell wasn't this movie nominated for best movie? Or best score? Or best male lead? Or best adapted screenplay? And why didn't it win sound editing? Needless to say, I think was the best movie I've seen all year.

First, let me talk about the music, as a musician myself, I take notice if a movie's score is especially good, and while some of the tracks were recycled from the Social Network, several themes and the main theme were completely original, and done by, oddly enough, by Cliff Martinez, the former drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The music throughout the movie uses the device of themes, which is extremely powerful, as opposed to modern scoring which is done to simply accompany the images perfectly, theme scoring creates recurring patterns indicating certain emotions and specific characters, and can be layered and edited to mean different things even as they repeat. Two things about the score's importance, in the all-important stomp scene, you hear two themes, which is Irene's, then a theme of violence, marking a powerful transition and sharp division between both, the track is called, "Skull Crushing". Another scene with powerful music is the scene early in the film, where The Driver is with Irene and Benicio, spending the day with them, as we first hear the track, "A Real Hero", which returns at the end of the movie.

While I'm on scenes, let me talk more about some other ones, the stomp scene speaks for itself, it shows the division of the character and his love, and his demonstration of a kind of truth, but enough about that. I also mentioned the scene where The Drive spends the day with Irene and her child, while nothing is said, the scene shows this instant kind of connection between them and him, and it starts the real relationship between them. While I'm on it, I should briefly mention dialogue, there's not much of it. Not at all. I love that. The movie didn't need it, and everything was perfectly silent, dialogue was usually thin and short, they let the scene tell you what was going on, and didn't make it obvious, which is something you don't see too often in film. Another important scene is when Bryan Cranston (who is always amazing) is telling Irene about The Driver and himself, in some of the only real monologuing in the movie, he explains much about The Driver's characters and goals. Another is where The Driver kills Nino by crashing into him, the silence of the scene is perfect, and the passing light make it unforgettable, not to mention good camera work, which applies to all these scenes of course, the movie's camera is always good, shots positioned perfectly make the movie's intentions covering for the lack of dialogue. The last important scene, is of course, the ending, where The Driver sits perfectly still, a kind of fake out to the audience, the scene is perfect, it makes us think he's done, then he blinks, and the music starts, the ending begins, this kind of, breaking out of death is explored, and the movie ends soon after, with a less than satisfying, though still powerful ending.

Now, the story, is a split one, we have the storyline of revenge for The Driver, his heist gone wrong, and the repercussions, the other is a love story with Irene. I think the love story is the better half of the movie, the love is pure and when Irene's husband returns from prison, he doesn't try to interfere, but makes himself available, and even as he is caught up with his other storyline, the heist and its repercussions, he still manages to act properly to her, and to tell her the truth even if it means losing her, right before he has to show her that he's deeply involved, in the all-important stomp scene. The story lines are interwoven so well, one might just say that it was one story, but the fact that they are so well put together, yet are still distinguishable is a definite bonus to the movie, you see two sides of The Driver, while you still explore this one cohesive idea.

Finally, let me talk about acting. Like I said, the dialogue in this movie is nearly nonexistent, even in the stomp scene, where an action line begs to come into play, the movie remains silent and lets actions speak louder than words. Which is my point, actions speaking louder than words, the lines are delivered perfectly, but the actors exist in this silence so very perfectly that it is incredible, Ryan Gosling's acting is through the roof, as the character who speaks the least, he had the most to say with his acting, and he spoke volumes. Then there's him and Irene, played by Carey Mulligan (whose accent does not bleed through at all and I'm totally jealous), the relationship half of the movie is focused on. Like I said, it's pure, they only kiss once, in the all-important stomp scene, and other than that, the most they do is hold hands. They barely speak, so like I said, action, the way they look at each other, the emotional in the barebones lines in their dialogue is so powerful we can tell absolutely that Irene is the most important thing to The Driver. Their music too, helps establish this relationship, and their closeness even without touching, they stand so close to each other, which is perfect to show more than what dialogue could tell us.

Overall, l think the movie is great, and you should see it and complain loudly to your friends about how it didn't get any academy awards.

Sound A+: Music, car noises, stomping, perfect.

Visuals A+: Shot so very well I go crazy, every scene is picture perfect.

Acting A+: Not one person is lacking, even the child actor, who are sometimes just awful.

Story B+: The only thing I don't think is perfect is the story, The Driver as a character is weakly covered by the story, and the pacing of it is sometimes just strange. It's still super good though.

Overall A: Super good, super super good, but not completely perfect, not many movies are though. (needs more dream sequences.)

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