There were so many great films that came out in 2011, but Drive was the one that blew me away. I remember when it came out both critics and most cinephiles fell in love with the film, but the average audience hated it. Why did they hate it? Well it was marketed as an action packed film. The trailer gave them the wrong idea. So they thought that it was boring and lacked action since there were only two car chases and Ryan Gosling’s character became extremely violent. I even remember there was a lawsuit against the film that the trailer was misleading and it was no Fast and Furious. Granted now Fast and Furious is no longer Fast and Furious. I wonder when that lawsuit will happen.
The opening shot explains so much about our protagonist. The driver is particular, serious, has a set of rules, and quick to the point. His boss Shannon provides his getaway car. The camera never leaves Driver when he’s driving the car. He’s timed everything out perfectly and the criminals he drove get away. Soon he meets Irene. She starts changing him and he begins questioning whether or not to quit driving for criminals. We soon hear the film’s theme, a Real Hero, when Driver is starting to show emotions while driving Irene and her son Benicio. This is where we see that Driver wants to change.
Soon we meet Bernie Rose, the film’s main antagonist, Shannon wants Bernie to give Driver a look by having him drive a car for him. They exchange words, which are the best lines in the film, and sums up both characters.
Shannon: Kid I want you to meet Bernie Rose.
Driver: My hands are a little dirty.
Bernie: So are mine.
Driver may partake in criminal activities, but he doesn’t view that those actions characterize him. His hands are only a “little dirty”. Simply put, he thinks that he’s a good person. Bernie to the contrary knows he’s a criminal and embraces it.
There’s a conversation between Driver and Benicio takes place when they watch a cartoon together that can easily be dismissed as random conversation, but that’s never the case with director Nicolas Winding Refn.
Driver: Is he a bad guy?
Benicio: Yeah.
Driver: How can you tell?
Benicio: Cause he’s a shark.
Driver: There are no good sharks?
Benicio: No I mean just look at him. Does he look like a good guy to you?
Driver wants out of the shark life, but something is building up inside of him. He wants to be the good guy, sharks can be good guys too right? When Benicio thinks otherwise this is where Driver gets the look like reality just hit him. Driver is a shark, a bad guy. Then there’s the news that Standard, Irene’s husband, is returning home from prison. This is where hope starts to fade from Driver.
Standard returns home in hope to rebuild his family. Simultaneously, Driver is rebuilding something that is critical for his car. Both Driver and Standard are working to rebuild something that is significant to them. Since Driver and Irene first met, their whole focus and the motives change. Also, what drives them changes. All they can do is think of one another. During Standard’s welcome home party the song ‘Under your Spell’ is playing in the background. Irene’s thoughts are elsewhere during the party. “I don’t eat. I don’t sleep. I do nothing, but think of you. You got me under your spell.” Driver doesn’t view driving the same way, just as Irene doesn’t view the completion of her family the same way. Once Driver is finished with his repairs, he walks out of his apartment to see Irene sitting in the hall.
Irene: Sorry about the noise.
Driver: I was going to call the cops.
Irene: I wish you would.
This is the moment where Driver realizes he has nothing. He’s a long way from becoming a good guy and that one bright spot in life is fading. His anger is brewing and we see what he is capable of doing. Standard then confronts Driver about being threatened into robbing a pawn shop and Benicio is given a bullet by a thug named Cook. Driver is getting increasingly unstable thinking about Irene and Benicio getting harmed. Driver tells Standard that he’ll help him on one condition. That he’ll leave Irene and Benicio. Of course the heist goes wrong, Standard is killed in the process, and Driver escapes to a motel with Blanche who is one of the people involved in the robbery. He discovers that the money stolen wasn’t even reported and then there’s a bloody shootout at the motel. He has a discovery that he’ll always be the shark, no matter what. Just look at that expression.
Now we move onto the infamous elevator sequence. He wanted one last moment with Irene. It was a moment that will be forever imprinted on his heart because he knew what he had to do next. After that blissful moment of letting out all his built up love for Irene to say goodbye.
One of the major themes in Drive is the fable of the Scorpion and the Frog. For the majority of the film Driver wears a jacket with a scorpion on the back of it. In one the final moments of the film, Driver calls up Bernie. Driver asks him, “you know the story about the scorpion and the frog?” and proceeds to tell him, “Your friend Nino didn’t make it across the river.” If you don’t know the fable of the Scorpion and the Frog I’ll let Wikipedia summarize it for you:
v “The Scorpion and the Frog is an animal fable about a scorpion asking a frog to carry him across a river. The frog is afraid of being stung during the trip, but the scorpion argues that if it stung the frog, the frog would sink and the scorpion would drown. The frog agrees and begins carrying the scorpion, but midway across the river the scorpion does indeed sting the frog, dooming them both. When asked why, the scorpion points out that this is its nature.”
Most people say that Driver is the scorpion. Since he does carry the scorpion symbol on his jacket. Some point out that during the infamous elevator scene it represents the moment where the scorpion stings himself. He’s trying to change and build a life with Irene, but turns back to violence because it’s his nature. I believe that Driver actually represents the frog. He is someone who is fundamentally good, but drowns by association of those who are not. He’s always carrying the criminals (or in a way driving them) and continuously getting dragged back into crime. Crime is the scorpion and Driver is literally carrying the scorpion on his jacket. If the scorpion had to be someone it wouldn’t be Nino, but rather Bernie. The final scene between the two of them could in fact be the retelling of the Scorpion and the Frog. Bernie asks for the money and that they will both get what they want. Driver agrees even though he knows Bernie is a shark and gets stung in the process. Bernie did what was in his nature.
It’s not right to talk about Drive without talking about the music. It mixes Cliff Martinez’s score with a retro 1980s synthwave. The soundtrack blends both old and new. It transports you into the world of the film. Definitely one of my favorite film soundtracks. The soundtrack is so memorable that it stays in your head for years.
Drive is a marvelous film. Nicolas Winding Refn really did an outstanding job with this film. Ryan Gosling provides us with a splendid performance, a role where he barely speaks and has a wide range of emotions. I was surprised how he was able to communicate by saying so little. Drive is a truly a perfect film.
5 out of 5
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