"Drive" Film Review

Posted by Tariq Smith in Digital Video -4 day a week - Herman on

After watching “Drive”, my opinion of the film was somewhat unappreciative in a sense. Prior to viewing Drive, I was informed that this was a movie that received several different awards such as Best Picture and Best Director. This gave me in some respects what many would call great expectations that weren’t fully met. I acknowledge that this was a very creative film but I felt as if at certain points in the film, I was unable to appreciate its artistic value.

    One aspect of the film that I particularly admired was its fast-paced sequences during an overall seeming slow developing plot. There were many scenes where I felt on the edge of my seat for a long period of time. Although the feeling of being on the edge of your seat when waiting for a scene to climax is an amazing feeling, Drive in my opinion kept me feeling that often for what felt like an insurmountable period of time. One example of this, being the second of the three car chases where Driver is physically driving. I understand the wanting of the scene to have its authenticity, but a scene such as this that as fast paced as it was needed to give me more time to digress after each and every plot twist throughout the entire chase.  
    I also wasn’t a huge fan of the different auditory elements that went into the film. For example, Driver, who is supposed to be the main character/protagonist in the film, had what I felt was a very insufficient amount of dialogue to reinforce his vitality to the overall concept of the film. Yes some would argue the cliche phrase “actions speak louder than words” but as a viewer I like to see my protagonist captivate me with both actions as well as words. The background noise often times did help me keep interest in what was going on in their surrounding. But as I stated earlier, there were times where there was dead silence (such as the elevator scene after the kiss) when for a dramatic effect everything was slowed down before the climax of that particular scene which would have to be the brutal killing. As far as other auditory elements such as the soundtrack and musical score, I didn’t find anything that was particularly moving in its authenticity.
    An accolade that I would give Drive is the strategic use of lighting. I felt as if many of the vital scenes in the movie contained a warmer toned light when something important was occurring. This allowed me to focus on a specific person or subject and feel comfortable during periods where I was forced to reflect on what happened in another scene. Because I am a fan of action, my biased opinion was that I appreciated the many different angles shown during driving scenes. I thought driving scenes had to have been a strong aspect of the film one because of the obvious title, and two because the driving scenes were what Drivers character was based on. After watching the extras and finding out more about many of the characters, I saw how different actors stepped outside of their comfort zone in this movie. At first I didn’t think that the acting was anything worth mentioning but after finding out a small background of them, I was able to appreciate the actors more than I originally would have.
    My overall critique of Drive is that I wouldn’t have felt disappointed that I spent money to go view it in the theaters but this is not a movie that I would want to purchase on DVD/Blu-Ray. Yes it managed to entertain me for one hundred minutes but it was nothing that I am going to remember a year from now. Perhaps I set too high expectations for it but it didn’t move me in the way that it did many other people and I would choose not to recommend it to anyone who has the same opinions as me with this genre of film.

Comments

No comments have been posted yet.