- Location: Century Boulder
- If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Michael Mann should feel deeply honored by Drive. Directed by Swedish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, the film's themes, soundtrack, and cinematography all owe a huge debt to Mann's neon-illuminated early career, especially Thief and Miami Vice, even as the plot and naming conventions borrow directly from Walter Hill's The Driver. To wit, the film opens with a riveting scene in which the anonymous Driver (Ryan Gosling) gets behind the wheel of a getaway car that blazes through the streets of nighttime Los Angeles on a high-speed police chase. Cue the electric pink titles and faux-retro 80's soundtrack.
- A stunt driver and mechanic by day, the Driver moonlights as a getaway driver-for-hire who promises his clients five minutes of devotion and no questions asked. His earnest employer and surrogate father Shannon (Bryan Cranston) dreams of transforming the talented kid into a legit racecar driver, but that's going to require financial support from a local mobster named Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks) whose volatile partner Nino (Ron Perlman) radiates trouble. From the Driver's perspective, however, that new racecar and a budding relationship with his neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) seem to indicate a change in fortunes. Too bad the good times in films like this never last.
- The first sign of trouble arrives when Irene's husband Standard (Oscar Isaac) returns from prison. Standard is a surprisingly compelling character whose initial, understandably negative reaction to the Driver overshadows the fact that he genuinely wants to escape his criminal past. Unfortunately, that option is removed when goons hired by a thug named Cook (James Biberi) rough Standard up and threaten Irene and their son (Kaden Leos). Before long, the Driver finds himself actually helping Standard clear his debts, if only for his family's sake. As Shannon notes, "I know a lot of guys who mess around with married women, but you're the only one I know who robs a place to pay back the husband." Unfortunately, a series of double-crosses means that, for once in his life, the Driver is going to have a tough time getting away.
- The good parts of Drive, and there are many, play like a love letter to the sort of wonderfully existentialist crime thrillers that Michael Mann and Jean-Pierre Melville excelled at creating. The remarkable urban cinematography lets bursts of color pierce the inky night scenes while pleasantly craggy actors like Cranston, Perlman, and Brooks add a touch of much-appreciated character to the proceedings. That said, it seems like the nameless Driver himself is even more dehumanized than is usual for this type of film. Whereas typical criminal anti-heroes seem to be aware of a normal life (even if they themselves don't have one), it's not clear that the Driver's even looking at the right map. This is especially apparent during several outbursts of violence in which the Driver, wearing an increasingly bloody scorpion jacket, seems to be doing his best Travis Bickle impression. In other words, when a song from the soundtrack describes "a real human being and a real hero," I'm at most half-convinced. Still, if you can't watch a real Michael Mann film, Drive may be the next best thing.
- The film contains a cameo by Russ Tamblyn.
