Drive Movie Review 0 1310

Get ready for the coolest movie of the year. Nicholas Winding Refn – who previously brought is the deceptively slow-paced Valhalla Rising and the out-there Bronson – delivers a real thrill ride of a movie with Drive (pardon the pun) but one that works on a quieter level than a lot of other similar films.

We’re officially out of the summer season and Drive is a great example of the grown-up type of cinema this type of year offers. Even if it often concentrates on the drama, it’s still at least part thriller, with plenty of car chasing (it ain’t called Drive for nothing) and shootouts. But there’s a depth to this film which sets it apart from many others of its type, a certain boldness which makes it stand out from the crowd.

Ryan Gosling (who seems to be in every other movie these days) plays a movie stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver for any criminals who need his services. One day he starts to form a relationship with his neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her son, eventually deciding to help her husband (who has recently been released from prison) to pull of a job in order to pay debts he owes to a crime boss. Needless to say things don’t exactly go to plan and the Driver (as he’s simply credited) gets mixed up with the wrong people a lot more than he had intended to.

On the surface Drive may seem like your average crime movie and indeed it does contain a lot of the tropes of the genre (big bad mob boss, shootouts, car chases and lots of swearing and violence). But Refn – one of the more unique directors working today – has created a distinctive tale of crime, not least with the elegant, handsome look of the film off-setting the often horrendous and violent things that take place on-screen.

Speaking of which, if you are at all queasy or of a nervous disposition you might want to watch this one with caution. It’s hard these days to shock with violence – purely because there’s so much of it in movies and on TV that we’ve become somewhat desensitised – but there were at least five times (at least) throughout where my mouth dropped open in shock and awe of how violent it was. That may sound like a knock but it’s entirely the opposite. This is dealing with serious situations and if they involve violence then it should be showcased in all its brutal reality. Drive isn’t afraid to show what would really happen if, for instance, someone was shot in the head. Violence is not a nice thing so why should the film hide that fact?

Gosling plays just about the coolest character of the year within the coolest movie. That stylish white satin jacket (with added scorpion embroidered on the back), that steely stare and that a tough demeanour which says “don’t mess with me or else,” even if he says only the bear minimum that he needs to (a man of action not of words). All of these things (and more) add up to one heck of a memorable protagonist.

Gosling puts in one of hiw best performances to go along with the likes of Blue Valentine and Half Nelson.
Drive also sports an impressive array of supporting actors including Brit actress Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman, Albert Brooks (playing wildly against type) and Christina Hendricks. The film does a good job of allowing each of them to have their time in the spotlight but still keeping Gosling centre stage.

You can’t really talk about Drive without mentioning the soundtrack. It’s arguably the best movie soundtrack of the year, consisting of a combination of original music by Cliff Martinez (The Lincoln Lawyer, Contagion) and existing songs, together giving off a distinctly ‘80s-synth vibe which, again, helps to make the film more than just your average crime-thriller. The music is almost like a character in and of itself, something of a trademark, and considering there are lots of segments without dialogue, the music fills and overlays those moments quite perfectly.

Drive cruises a long at wonderfully judged pace, quiet and methodical when it needs to be but still turning everything up to 11 if and when the moment calls for that sort of thing. For the most part it’s more of a stylised slow-burner than you might expect, more interseted in how things are presented technically, but that’s part of what makes it so great. Absorbing, audacious and utterly compelling, this is undoubtedly one of the films of the year because, perhaps above all else, it’s entirely unpredictable – how many films can you truly say that about these days?

Drive is out on DVD and Blu-ray now.

This review was previously published at Blog Critics.

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I'm a freelance film reviewer and blogger with over 10 years of experience writing for various different reputable online and print publications. In addition to my running, editing and writing for Thoughts On Film, I am also the film critic for The National, the newspaper that supports an independent Scotland, covering the weekly film releases, film festivals and film-related features. I have a passion for all types of cinema, and have a particular love for foreign language film, especially South Korean and Japanese cinema. Favourite films include The Big Lebowski, Pulp Fiction and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

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Movie Review: Aquaman 0 1870

The rocky road of DCEU films has traversed highs and lows, from the zeitgeist-capturing Wonder Woman to the absolute mess of Justice League. It’s a Marvel-rivalling gambit that, at its worst, is morosely serious in how it goes about presenting its outlandish superhero world without the depth to back it up.

The latest instalment seems to recognise and avoid that danger by being utterly, eternally ludicrous and over-the-top. But most importantly, where it counts anyway, it’s crucially self-aware of that fact and has a fun time plunging us into the depths and carrying us to great heights of entertainingly ridiculous spectacle.

We first met Arthur Curry AKA the Aquaman (Jason Momoa) teaming up with the Justice League. But how did he come to be imbued with the powers of the ocean? The film sets up his origin story quite well as we discover in the film’s opening minutes that his mother was Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), Queen of the ancient underwater Kingdom of Atlantis, who washed up on the “surface world” and met and fell in love with lighthouse keeper Thomas (Temeura Morrison).

Together they had a child that, to her mind, bridges the divide between the underwater and surface worlds, proving they can be one. However, it’s a view not greatly shared by many of her own people; when she wilfully returns to Atlantis for the sake of her son’s survival, they carry out a swift sentence of justice that would affect her husband and son’s destiny forever.

In the present day, Aquaman is approached by Mera (Amber Heard), a warrior princess of Nereus (Dolph Lundgren), who tries to convince him that he must claim his rightful place as King of Atlantis. This is in order to thwart his ruthless and cunning half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) from seizing power as Ocean Master that would lead to a full-scale attack on the surface world, someone who considers Aquaman to be a “half-breed” not worthy of the throne.

Credit must go to director James Wan (a filmmaker who has gone from horror franchises like Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring to blockbusters like Fast & Furious 7) for really going for it by delivering an eye-popping, bonkers visual style that seems to make every effort to be the opposite of drab.

It’s fuelled by a marriage between the comic book page and Greek mythology; sometimes that gets the better of it in the shape of characters going on extended monologues that explain legends in the finest detail, though at others that feeds into the idea of stories retold through the ages.

The film is a treat to behold whenever it dives into the ocean as Wan embraces the absurdity at every turn (look out for the giant neon-lit octopus playing the drums), wearing the inherent goofiness as a badge of honour rather than anything to shy away from. And,perhaps most importantly, the cast seems completely on-board for having as much fun with those OTT concepts as they want the audience to have.

Momoa brings alight-hearted charisma, which carries the film whenever it leans too heavy into one-liner humour that doesn’t always land as hoped, while bringing a welcome sense of bruising physicality to the action scenes that are otherwise so reliant on CGI.

An impressive cast of more seasoned actors all lend as much weight to it as possible, from Kidman’s caring, strong-willed portrayal of Aquaman’s mother to Willem Dafoe as his Atlantean trainer Vulko and particularly Wilson, who lends formidable threat to the potentially bland villain Orm.

For a film that had the potential to get so tangled up in both its place within an overall comic book movie universe and the mythology that sets the foundation of its tale, it’s surprisingly streamlined and enjoyably accessible. It’s a refreshingly carefree,unchallenging romp that invites you to let the tidal wave of rambunctious comic book movie sensibilities wash over you.

6.5 out of 10

Movie Review: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 0 1745

After so many sequels and reboots of the Spider-Man character on the big-screen, from Sam Raimi’s trilogy to the character being integrated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s hard to see what else they can give us that’s going to surprise. But along comes an animated Spider-Man to do just that.

Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is a normal teenager living in New York with his parents; loving but fairly easy-going mother Rio (Luna Lauren) and loving but tough police officer father Jefferson (Brian Tyree Henry) – the film has a surprising emotional through-line in how it depicts the father-son relationship.

One day while doing some secretive spray painting with his chummy uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali), he is bitten by a mysterious spider that gives him special powers from web slinging to a tingling Spidey Sense.

This leads him to eventually crossing paths with Peter Parker (Jake Johnson) who, due to the villainous Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) meddling with a dimension-altering weapon, has inadvertently been sent over from a parallel universe and who eventually teaches Miles how to be Spider-Man.

But it doesn’t stop there;many other diverse versions appear, from Gwen Stacy AKA Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld) to Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage). Sony’s dazzling animation is as fun because it takes that idea and just runs with it.

Anyone can wear the mask seems to be its mantra, conjuring the everyman wonder that drives much of comic book fandom. For all its eye-popping, modern visual aesthetics, it has a refreshingly old-fashioned spirit. The old and the new meet in the film’s beguiling combination of traditional hand-drawn animation and contemporary bells and whistles computer rendering. It’s about as close as a film has come to feeling like a comic book come to life.

Inventive direction by trio Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman works in lovely harmony with the eclectic, knowing style of scriptwriter Phil Lord (The Lego Movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) to find quite a miraculous way of breathing new life into the overflowing comic book genre.

From its sharply-written dialogue to its very animation style itself, the film is beautifully self-aware of its own station within the overall comic book movie catalogue, cleverly lampooning yet dotingly celebrating the attributes that have become such a part of pop culture. And yet it feels like it puts its own fiercely original stamp on that most famous of heroes.

This is a visually stunning, innovative incarnation of the character; propulsive in its energetic action, engagingly voiced, tightly written as a heroic narrative arc, reverential yet forward-thinking in its ethos and with a real sense of heart and soul at its core. It’s a particular treat for fans and a welcoming,imaginative embrace for everyone.

8.8 out of 10