The plot is secondary to the film’s atmosphere and as such is kept pretty straightforward: the hero (Gosling), a taciturn, best-in-the-business getaway driver falls for his neighbour (Mulligan), takes part in a botched heist on her behalf and ends up battering the baddies into a bloody pulp (and boy is it bloody!) to ensure her safety.
This gives Winding Refn plenty of room to play, and the film works as an exhilarating exercise in style, a 90-minute succession of gorgeously lit, expertly choreographed scenes underscored by a pitch-perfect synthpop soundtrack.
From the opening, a lengthy and very ingeniously constructed getaway scene, the viewer is transfixed. How unspectacular it is in terms of conventional chase scenes – for one, it’s shot almost exclusively from the inside of the car – is testament to the scene’s masterful direction, engrossing the viewer in every second of the action.
This is true of the entire film and by the final close-up (of half a million) on Gosling’s face as he lies wounded in his car, possibly dead, you’ll find yourself shamelessly praying for that eyelid to flutter.
Drive | Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (USA 2011) with Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan. Starts January 26
January 27, 2012 9:00 AM
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