Drive — Sean Cordy
It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a decade since Drive premiered. Nic Refn’s calling card has been sitting at the top of my list practically since then. I think it’s my most-watched movie only behind Jaws. And like Jaws, it only grows on me with each viewing.
I remember back in 2011 reading about a lawsuit someone filed against the studio because the trailer for Ryan Gosling’s crowing achievement was misleading. It wasn’t the Fast & the Furious installment she (and many other car movie fans) were expecting. However ridiculous that expectation may be for an arthouse heist movie, it’s a story that has stuck with me regarding how audiences have been programmed to expect the same beats and characters.
Drive lampoons all those expectations. To paraphrase Albert Brooks asking Bryan Cranston about starting a racing team, “What does Drive have that other movies don’t?” Cranston’s answer is “the driver.” My answer is virtually the same.
From the very beginning, Refn makes it clear this should not be seen as a run-of-the-mill car chase movie. The focus is on the driver and his journey, not the shell that carries him. Despite how much emphasis is put on the chases, it’s not until we see Gosling’s character stunt driving for a movie that we even see his car from the outside. It’s as if Refn is making a commentary that the only time the car actually matters is in a movie, just not any movie he makes.
The first chase we see is contained entirely inside the car. It’s personal and intense but nuanced, immediately setting the tone for the exact opposite of what has become standard today. To take too much joy in a pun using Carey Mulligan’s line about meeting Oscar Isaac, Drive is the deluxe version.
