This is one of those wonderful little cult movies that is best to stumble upon by accident. I envy the people who saw this expecting a romantic crime drama with Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan being all cute together. I don't care if they were shocked and upset with the gruesome violence and hated the experience as a result--that's how I wished I saw it. Instead, I heard about the gruesome violence and wanted to see that. Yeah, it's gruesome, but the violence is also often cartoonishly over-the top. Instead I found myself fascinated by Gosling's quiet, almost walking dead performance. The title seems almost like a joke, as "drive" is what Gosling character does, but also what he seems to lack. He's quiet, makes his living as a mechanic, a sometimes stunt driver, and a sometimes getaway driver (in a rather riveting opening scene, he shows his talents at being quiet and inconspicuous when that serves the purpose and being fast and daring when he has to). The romance is there basically only to get him back into the crime world when he and his business partner (a stubbly, bedraggled Bryan Cranston) are trying to get into the racing world with the backing of a couple of local gangsters (Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman, who do an excellent job in unexpected roles). Things go horribly wrong, and things get really, really bloody. It's excellent, and I want his scorpion jacket--I don't care if it would make anyone else look like a douche.
Running Time: 100 minutes
My Total Minutes: 249,130
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