Drive

[Ladybug]

We saw this last night and I liked it but some of the violence and gore was too much for me. I missed the last half of the elevator scene.

The best thing about this movie was the performances. Every actor was terrific. Gosling especially. He created a terrifying yet sympathetic guy. Carey Mulligan continues to really impress me. She is not the most beautiful actress on screen but the girl can act.

[huntergrayson]

I think the most impressive parts of Gosling and Mulligan's performances is how much was conveyed without a single word.

[Deleted]

I saw this today. I was definitely entertained by the majority of the movie, but I found the tonal shifts really jarring. I had no idea what this movie was about before I saw it and at first it seemed like a heist movie, then it seemed like it was going to be a Top Gun/Days of Thunder-type plot with Ryan Gosling as a racing wonder, then it was a mafia movie, then it was a Man on Fire-style revenge flick. The whole robbery plot was well done and I was on the edge of my seat, but once the characters started dropping like flies, my interest waned. I just personally dislike those kinds of flicks where it's just one needless killing after another. I also disliked the female roles in the film and I'm surprised Carey Mulligan took this part, because she was stuck with such a nothing character. Did Irene have a personality at all?

Sept 17, 2011 20:05:31 GMT -4 @madelenas said:

Normally, I appreciate art house/independent/foreign films but my minimum requirement is that I should not be conscious of what the director is trying to do. I dislike that sort of obvious affectation, from the choice of music, to the lighting in the elevator scene, the long meaningful silences between Gosling and Mulligan, the focus on the shadow instead of the actor in the final scene, etc...

That was a problem for me, too. Like I said, I knew nothing about the movie beforehand, but I worked out that the director was trying to do some sort of pastiche of 80's movies, what with the car scenes and the musical interludes and the title fonts and all. It was just a little too obvious, a little too stylised.

I did like the elevator kiss, though. My attraction to the Gos was not diminished at all by this movie; he looks like a GREAT kisser.

[Deleted]

I swear to gosh, huntergrayson, I did not read this thread before I updated Facebook calling this movie "the bastard child of Michael Mann and David Lynch". For realz.

[Deleted]

Who'd thunk Albert Brooks could play such a scary bad guy. He was both terrorizing and mesmerizing at the same time.

This. Apparently he's a much better actor than I gave him credit for, he was terrifying. And so creepy in that one scene with Bryan Cranston (who was also excellent in this.)

[save lilo!]

I am totally Ryan Gosling's bitch this year.

I loved the night LA driving scenes. It's the different quieter side of LA that I know and appreciate, it was nice to see that part. I definitely miss home right now!

[huntergrayson]

I know right? A good chunk of this was filmed literally down the street from my apartment in LA.

[Ripley]

TTMR & I saw this tonight, and we both found it mesmerizing. I loved the opening scene, and even when the pacing slowed to a crawl, I was still engaged.

What was the symbolism of

SPOILER: Click to show

Gosling's character wearing a mask while he killed Nino? I really didn't see the point. He wasn't trying to hide his identity. I could imagine reasons why he might have been wearing it if it were his first murder or his last, but not this one in the middle.

[magazinewhore]

This movie was kind of like porn to me, literally and figuratively, because I have such an attraction not only to Gosling, but to the strong, silent type of leading man. I found Gosling EXTREMELY attractive (have I made that clear?); I couldn't take my eyes off of him, so those lingering close ups of his face were no problem to me.

However, I enjoyed the first half of the movie more than the second. I don't mind violence at all in movies, but it changed the tone of the movie for me and that was, as someone said above, jarring. That said, I found the movie very compelling. That first scene was great. The elevator scene: also very well done. But the feminist in me finds the male/female roles troubling (despite my subconscious, which was kind of turned on). I think I enjoy it best thinking of it as almost a fever dream instead of a slice of reality.

[cinnacism]

Sept 25, 2011 0:38:24 GMT -4 Ripley said:

TTMR & I saw this tonight, and we both found it mesmerizing. I loved the opening scene, and even when the pacing slowed to a crawl, I was still engaged.

What was the symbolism of

SPOILER: Click to show

Gosling's character wearing a mask while he killed Nino? I really didn't see the point. He wasn't trying to hide his identity. I could imagine reasons why he might have been wearing it if it were his first murder or his last, but not this one in the middle.

"Mesmerizing" is a good word for this movie. I came out of it really not knowing how to describe or process it, but I did know that I liked it.

As for your question, I'm not sure either but I had one thought: Maybe, since the mob guy was kind of behind the scenes getting his thugs to do his dirty work for him, Driver felt like the guy didn't deserve the courtesy of being killed face-to-face...like he was responding to the mob guy's cowardice in kind with his own form of secrecy? Maybe it's more deep/complicated than that, but it was just my first theory after reading your question.

I have loved RG since I saw The Believer, and I've seen that a lot of posters have noticed him from a while back too. It seems like he hasn't made a career misstep yet. Let's hope it holds.