Drive is what you could call an ‘art house action movie,’ which certainly seems like an oxymoron.  And I know that marketing it as an action movie definitely threw off a lot of Fast and Furious fans (though that’s not hard to do, haha).  “Nothing happens,” they say with confusion.  “He just stares out windows!  When’s he gonna blow up a semi or something?”  Well, there is a lot of window-gazing going on.  However, two things that Fast and Furious fans have a problem wrapping their heads around are subtlety and atmosphere, and Drive has that in spades, with some cool action scenes to boot.

Drive stars hot young star-of-the-moment Ryan Gosling, one of the few Hollywood dudes that actually has some amazing acting chops and chooses good scripts now and again.  He plays a Hollywood stuntman and mechanic, known only as the Driver, who moonlights as a getaway driver in the world of crime.  He’s calm.  He’s cool.  He drives like nobody’s business.  The story starts when the Driver gets involved with Irene, a neighbouring young woman (played by Carey Mulligan) and her son.  He is soon pulled into a bad situation when Irene’s husband gets out of jail and needs help getting out of hot water with a local crime lord.

Though not everyone will agree --- I’m going to go ahead and call Drive one of the best movies of the year.  It’s smart, compelling, off the rails exciting in powerful bursts, and driven by character when it needs to be.  It’s really what I wished the Miami Vice movie had been --- a slick, stylish, violent, but smart thriller with an 80’s noir soundtrack.  Drive is pretty “Michael Mann” in tone.  (And when I mention violence, no, it’s not wall to wall violence --- but when it is violent, it’s ultra graphic --- I haven’t seen so many people bitch slapped since Lee Marvin in Point Blank!).  The action itself feels real, with stuntman driven cars, as opposed to some impossible green screen fantasy.

The film features a cast of amazing background performers taken from some of cable’s best shows; Bryan Cranston who is blowing me away on Breaking Bad, plays the Driver’s “manager.”  Ron Pearlman from Sons of Anarchy is a crime lord.  Christina Hendricks from Mad Men plays a role --- in fact, unlike any other action movie ever, they cast one of the most...um...well endowed women in entertainment, and then they cover up her huge...um...assets.  She’s not here to show cleavage.  She’s here to play a character without the distractions of the flesh (though there is some nudity in the movie).  And Albert Brooks rounds out the cast brilliantly, playing against type (and was snubbed for an Oscar nom).

Speaking of Oscars, I think that Gosling could have easily been nominated here.  He brings a smouldering intensity to the role (or at least, that’s what my wife would say!).  He conveys things without the need for too much dialogue --- a look here and there, or a pregnant pause in his delivery really sells it.  This movie reminded me of Taxi Driver and some of the other unique movies of the 1970s renaissance of American film.  And Gosling struts his quiet intensity like a young Robert DeNiro.  You’ve come a long way since Breaker High and The Mickey Mouse Club, Ryan.

This is a spellbindingly fresh take on an incredibly tired genre --- and while it won’t play for the Michael Bay-loving “less plot, more explosions” crowd, film lovers and those with an open mind will find that you can have your cake and eat it too --- you can have style AND substance.  And once more for effect --- shame on the Academy --- it’s a testament to how fake the Oscars are that Drive was not nominated for best picture and yet movies like The Help and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close were.  Sheesh.

5 Dorks out of 5 on the Geek-o-Meter.