Drive: 4 stars

A Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheel man discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong.

Drive is nothing like Fast and the Furious. Lets get that straight out of the way. Apparently I missed something in the advertising, but I'll assume more than one person thought that Drive was going to be a gear head action movie since the studio was sued by a woman who felt she was led astray by the trailers. When there was little to no dialogue for the first twenty minutes and an 80's synth soundtrack she probably realized The Driver (Ryan Gosling) wasn't going to be anything like Paul Walker. 

Drive is directed by Nicolas Winding Refn who brought us Valhalla Rising, Bronson and the Pusher series. While I haven't seen any of those films (except the first 10 minutes of Valhalla Rising) I certainly do know a little about them and that was enough to know Drive wasn't going to be what it seemed. No matter what impression the trailer left on me I figured I'd be in for a surprise; and what a giddy surprise it was. Drive is, simply put, an extremely badass art house flick. It's hard to call it action because the action is sparse and brief. It's not really a chase film because there are only a few. The best way to describe it is a modern and twisted Bullitt, but even that doesn't really work. Drive stands alone and while the story isn't that original the delivery of that story certainly is. 

Drive works well on many levels. It's beautifully shot, has solid acting (some great), gritty violence and a good story. However, what makes it excellent is the mysterious main character. The Driver is known as just that, or Kid as his boss Shannon (Bryan Cranston) calls him, and that's what he does; he drives. He is a stunt driver part time in movies, a mechanic at Shannon's body shop, and he moonlights as a nameless getaway driver whose rules you must abide by if you want to get away. He knows cars and can do anything behind the wheel. We don't know his name, where he came from, who his family is or how he got where he is; we just know he's been there a few years. It's this mystery that makes his actions so fascinating and we realize we're watching the origin story of a legend. Shannon has a business partner Bernie (a fantastic Albert Brooks) who agrees to front Shannon money to invest in a stock car that The Driver will drive (duh). Let's just say we get the impression that Bernie isn't a legitimate businessman. The Driver has a neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) who cares for her young son while her husband is in jail. The Driver helps her out for a few weeks, bonds with her and her son and then her husband Standard gets out of jail. The story then kicks into full gear with The Driver agreeing to help Standard with a heist that goes wrong. It gets complicated, but as always I'll let you discover the important parts on your own. 

There are a few scenes that are there to simply illustrate that The Driver, while the hero of this story, is not a very nice man. We don't know much about him and we probably don't want to or need to. The important thing is that this time all of The Driver's actions and decisions are based in the desire to help Irene and her son in anyway he can. 

By the end of the film we can see someone in our minds, two years later, telling the story of the The Driver. He knows somebody who knew somebody who knew somebody who knew him. He doesn't have all the details of his life, but what he does for Irene and her son are bigger than life. Isn't that what legends are all about? It's not necessarily what they do, but why they do it. Life isn't black and white and sometimes you have to get your hands dirty to be a real human being; to be a real hero.

http://youtu.be/-DSVDcw6iW8