Ryan Gosling plays a talented stunt driver working in the movies that also happens to do getaway driving on the side. He becomes involved with his pretty neighbour and her son, but this eventually leads to all kinds of trouble.
Nicholas Winding Refn opens the film with a gripping heist getaway, constructed with quiet elegance and superb pace. The decision to film, for the most part of this sequence, from the interior of the car puts us right into the action as well as seeing things from Gosling's perspective.
After this the film slows down quite considerably as the relationship between the stoic Driver and his neighbour Irene is constructed with sufficient depth to make us care - a rare thing in an action/crime film these days. This is fine as long as you aren't expecting a Transporter-esque noise-fest when you go to watch the film - in fact I quite like slow burning films, so it was very appealing. Over time it seems like the film is going in one particular direction, but when Irene's husband is released from prison it becomes a different film. Winding Refn seems to relish doing something that's contrary to our expectations like this, such as the sudden death of a major actor with minimal screen time, the lack of actual car chases and the very end where we are kept in suspense for a unusually long time regarding the Driver's fate.
Gosling performs admirably as the stoic man of few words and he and Irene gel well together on screen with their somewhat muted but charming affair. Supporting characters do what they can, namely Ron Perlman and Bryan Cranston, both of whom are good but haven't got that much to go on. Albert Brooks shines as the menacing gangster-with-the-money.
The soundtrack of the film is particularly refreshing - a synth-heavy pop track is never far from the action and helps to infuse the film with a Michael Mann-esque 80's feel.
I would have liked to have seen more car action though, more scenes like the opening as well.
8.5/10
0 comments:
Post a Comment