Drive

I feel like Drive has picked up a unfortunate reputation recently, most people my age see it as a “Literally Me” and it’s been TikTokifed to hell, but as someone who seen this movie for the first time during Lockdown it’s long been one of my favourite movies, I was intrigued by this movie for years, me and my brother have a 21 year age gap and when the movie first come out we were out with my Nan and he said he had to go as he was going to see this movie, I must of spent half hour repeatedly asking if I could go with him thinking it was a movie just about driving, going in 9 years later with 0 expectations was a experience, I caught it in cinemas tonight and it just solidified my love for it, before you even get into the story and the characters the visuals draw you in, this is one of the best looking movies I’ve ever seen and it was the last movie filmed before the L.A streetlights were changed from the orange hue so it really does feel like it’s capturing the time era in a capsule something that becomes fun to look back on, and the L.A backdrop becomes its own character which imo is one of the best things a movie can do, the soundtrack is also one of my favourites in any movie I’ve ever seen, most of it is in my playlist and call me cringe but when I first passed my driving test I would wear my varsity jacket and drive around at night to it, But even looking past that the characters and story are so well written and put together, Ryan Gosling puts in arguably his career best performance, a role that has roughly 39 lines but he says so much through his nonchalant reactions and facial expressions that you manage to feel everything and piece together his emotions though that alone, but while he's the hero of our piece trying to do the right thing, when the mood shifts during the second half and he lets loose you see The Driver for the animal he really is and start to question his actions, Carry Mulligan plays the quiet unassuming love interest so well, almost like a angel, she’s beautiful but always in the background, her & Benico feel comparable to heavenly figures, Brian Cranston as Shannon is one of the most tragic characters I’ve seen in a film over the last 15 years, you can tell he really does want the best for everyone but his desire for money and his sliminess is inescapable but despite being a massive Dick Cranston makes you feel sorry for him and by the end your rooting for him to make it out with The Driver, Albert Brooks & Ron Perlman as Bernie & Nino give probably my favourite performances in the film, they bounce of each other as business partners perfectly, both inherently evil but you can tell one is doing this for business while the other is just a evil man with a mean streak, there chemistry is unmatched and this leads to them have some incredibly funny interactions and some of the most memorable scenes, Nino’s Introduction might be my favourite in the whole movie, Incredibly tense and violent (almost that grindhouse Indie feel) throughout while being absolutely breathtaking to behold, strong performances throughout make this a joy to revisit, and it gives me the vibes of a GTA Game in movie form, think Tales Of Vice City but in L.A