Drive

Synopsis: A man -- without a name, his mom was drunk -- is a Hollywood stuntman, a getaway driver, and a mechanic in a shop. He ends up falling in love with his neighbor, whose husband is in jail. Meanwhile, his boss (Brian Crantson, the only bearable character in this movie) sets him up with a job using money from the mafia. When the husband of the girl he loves comes home, all hell breaks loose...

I will be straight up honest with you -- this movie is overrated, over-hyped and even boring 90% of the time. I couldn't get into this movie at all. It's ashamed because I thought it was going to be one of those "kick-ass" movies like Drive Angry or Faster, but it wasn't. Why did I think it was going to be off-the-charts in action? The previews are very misleading -- very. I remember watching the previews and saying "Oh, this going whoop ass!" But, no, I was deceived.

I'm not sure if I've ever heard of Ryan Gosling before this, maybe I have, not sure, but he was hideous in this movie. Some say he's suppose to come off as a humbled guy who only speaks when necessary. Yeah, I'm sure another actor could have done better, but after seeing Gosslings' performance I realized his acting in this movie was very 1 dimensional, it had no depth, no raw feeling, no emotion -- even when he "snaps" at the end, he looks just like when he was first introduced; however, the only thing is he's smashing some guys fingers with a hammer, without expressions. I kept thinking "slap this guy i the face with a Jack-hammer to get a response out of him!" Think about this, a guy who rarely speaks. He meets a girl and her kid. He gets to know the kid and then he says to this kid, "Want a toothpick?" That was my "what the fuck" moment!

Personally, I wanted to see emotion, maybe Goslings' character was related to Alma on The Happening, remember how she doesn't like to "show emotion?" Well not in this movie, he really give a good performance for not showing emotion -- what did I just say? -- oh well the movie still sucks.

Drive is very slow, ironically it tried to sale its self as a high-octane racing-like movie. For example, at the Begining you see Goslings' character in the middle of a heist. However, they kind of get discovered, however, he's so calm he simply drifts around avoiding the helicopter and cops. Even I'll admit, that's a skilled driver, but if you try to sell a movie as a fast-and-furious high-speed pursuit kind of movie, yet there rarely as any high speed pursuits, it's going to fall flat with most of the audiences. I speak for myself, in this matter, I hated the movie. However, seeing him avoid the cops and the helicopter was unique and very cinematic, and gave you the feel that you're about to get to know a guy who's devoid of human emotion, but then it turns into this over saturated film, with nothing in it. Even when he beat the guys face in while on the elevator, he still had no emotion. Maybe that's how the film was suppose to be, but for my liking, it wasn't great. I want to see him evolve emotionally, characteristically and mentally (even though you do see that, and I will admit it).

It would have been more entertaining if Gosslings' character was cruising around avoiding the police like he was doing at the beginning of the movie, but then he gets caught and we get to see his skills as he evades the police and the helicopter in a high-speed pursuit evading the cops. It kind of happened, but it wasn't entertaining it was boring. I know it takes a lot to evade a helicopter, nevertheless, he's suppose to be skilled and in the movie he's very precise and has everything set up. So if he thinks everything through, then he would have a contingency plan for escaping the police and the helicopter at the same time.

Another aspect Drive I disliked was the pacing. Everything was so slow. I couldn't bare see the montage of him and the the female neighbor and her kid, I couldn't imagine how she would fall for a guy like him, especially with his lack of proper human emotion (I just realized Goslings' character and Bella would be a perfect match). The romance was overrated and over romanticized. An emotionless guy, plus an hopeless romantic girl falling in love = awkward romance. What the point of having romance if the character doesn't evolve and really show his emotion. Maybe I'm missing something and I will watch it again just to see if I missed something everyone else picked up. Nonetheless, I will say this, it's rare that I hate a movie, then re-watch it, and then end up loving it.

So what do I rate this movie? 2 Starts out 5

-- Connor Murphy