Gosling's 'Drive' a Study in Cool

Just looking at Drive’s title font, perhaps we’re meant to evoke Michael Mann’s 1981 Thief, but this hyperstylized, moody study in masculinity starring Ryan Gosling and the act of driving fast also brings to mind Risky Business, although it should be pointed out that there wasn’t as much face smashing and eye forking in the Tom Cruise '80s classic.

Gosling continues to make brave and interesting choices, and may be the only leading man today who can pull off a silver jacket gilded with a scorpion on the back while sporting leather driving gloves and custom Doc Martins (much in the same way Steve McQueen could rock those super flashy sunglasses.) There is just something about the cool guy who quietly controls any situation and takes action just at the right moment, something uniquely and stubbornly American.

Based on the book by James Sallis, Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson, Valhalla Rising) takes a shot at elevating another American phenomenon—the driving movie. Gosling plays an unnamed man, referred to only as the Driver. When asked what he does, he simply replies, “I drive.”

The Driver is a getaway car for hire, a movie stunt driver and a mechanic—mostly under the employment of Shannon (Bryan Cranston), a broken opportunist with a lingering glint of smarmy youth. With no other entanglements, the Driver operates under strict conditions and drives as smart as he does fast.

Hoping that the Driver excels on the track, Shannon has NASCAR dreams and gets involved with Jewish gangsters Bernie (Albert Brooks) and Nino (Ron Perlman). Yes, that pairing plays as oddly as it sounds, but it works.

New to his building (It’s clear that he moves around a lot.), the Driver meets neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), and their budding affair plays out in extended gazes and pregnant pauses lit by perfectly placed beams of the dying Los Angeles sun. The Driver even gets to show a modicum of enthusiasm towards Irene’s son, Benicio. Kids like cool guys, too.

We’re lulled into the Driver’s small world—a stunt job, getaway job, mechanic job, and a flirtation with a hot mom with a waitress' name. (Guess what she does for a living?) Drive is beautifully drawn out; time slips from one scene to the next, pushing the narrative along with a kind of seduction based on Gosling’s wordless glances and a romantic take on how cool guys move through LA’s streets.

The love story reaches a bump in the road when Irene’s husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac), comes home from prison and finds himself owing the wrong people a lot of money. When Irene and Benicio’s lives are threatened, the Driver offers to help Standard with the one last job that will get the ex-con “out” for good, but this final job isn’t exactly simple. Yes, it’s a heist gone wrong flick, too.

Lacking the jarring elegance of A History of Violence, Drive hints at the intensity around the corner, and then full on assaults the audience with buckets of blood. The former takes a more emotional approach at gore. But like Viggo Mortensen’s character in Cronenberg’s film, we have no idea where the Driver came from and why he’s so damn good at killing people. The aura of the invincible killer is particularly intoxicating to that golden male demographic and there are plenty of violent money shots to inspire—what, I don’t really know.

Drive is packaged so slickly, it’s obviously way smarter than the average The Fast and Furious, and because of that, Refn will most likely prove that an artsy movie starring Gosling, cool car crashes and lots of killing will do well in America—even without a steamy sex scene. 

But many scenes, including most of the straight driving sequences, are so marred with retro synth, it’s hard to enjoy their poetry. This is something that Sofia Coppola figured out how to avoid in the many driving scenes in her portrait of an aging Hollywood lothario, Somewhere.

The more kinetic stunt driving and chase sequences are the best things about the movie, except for comedy legend Brooks. Brooks is scary as a seemingly amiable gangster. He plays off Perlman’s sculptural face and iconic voice, both of which continue to be a source of fascination. Cranston is character-acting his heart out, and is the most sympathetic, if not pathetic, figure in the film.

Unfortunately, Mulligan’s character is also an archetype. She is an idiot. Waifish and vacant with few interior gears visible in the many silences, she makes perplexing choices and puts her adorable son at risk. Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks makes a brief appearance, but just as we think her character might be getting meatier, well, it does ... in a way.

Gosling’s subdued adrenaline junkie has no history, no motivation and few morals. He does have ample dialogue-free screen time when we can infer what is going in that sandy blonde head of his, with those soulful eyes and knowing smile. When he does speak, it comes out very New York, as in some of his recent roles.

That said, Gosling gives an intense performance and knows when to let his voice crack. His attempt to control the lethal immediacy of his character makes for some chewy scenes in an overall exceptional performance. 

Brooks’ character perhaps clues us in on Refn’s intentions when he talks about how he used to be a movie producer. He says something like, “I used to make movies. The critics called them ‘European.' They were shit.”  

With an intentionally gratuitous scene in a strip club dressing room and a mental-illness-free Taxi Driver vibe, it’s obvious that Refn is speaking to us by invoking other movies. I had a hard time quieting the references popping into my head while watching, but that’s not always a bad thing.

Drive is a take on the Hollywood classic theme of the solitary hero with no past and no future. It’s a smart film, even with all the muscle underneath the hood, but it relies a little too heavily on Gosling’s swagger, his channeling of Brando, and the fact that the white dude never gets caught. It feels too derivative some moments, too violent at others, and unabashedly goes for the spectacle of the cool.

Drive is now playing at:

Regal Marketplace 24 in Oaks

• Friday, Sept. 16; Saturday, Sept. 17; and Sunday, Sept. 18: noon, 2:20 p.m., 4:45 p.m., 7:10 p.m., 9:45 p.m.