Drive review detail 2011

Drive 1997, is an American made straight-to-video martial-arts/action movie which surprised critics and wooed viewers around the world.  It cost just $3.5 million to make, yet has a polish making it look like a Hollywood production!  It still remains relatively unknown even today, yet was hailed at the time as, “The finest action film never made in Hong Kong” (Chris Ducker, Hong Kong Superstars) and, “Quite simply this is one of the best action movies I’ve ever seen B-grade or major studio” (Keith Bailey The Unknown Movies).

Cast:

Mark Dacascos plays Toby Wong, a prototype model of the perfect assassin, Kadeem Hardison plays Malik Brody, Toby’s hilarious hostage and road-buddy, John Pyper-Ferguson plays Madison, and Tracey Walter plays Hedgehog, Madison’s buddy, both disgruntled, bungling cowboy-hitmen.  Brittany Murphy (R.I.P) plays Deliverance Bodine, a young, wacky wildflower daughter of her motel owner parents, James Shigeta plays the sinister Mr. Lau, president of the Leung Corporation. Masaya Kato plays the Advanced Model assassin sent to hunt down Toby and bring him back to Hong Kong. Directed by Steve Wang and stunt choreography is handled care of Koichi Sakamoto and his Alpha Stunt Team.

Plot:

Toby who previously worked for the Red Chinese is on the run when he finds out what it’s really like working for the government (they killed his girlfriend). He realizes he is an experimental prototype of what they want to turn him into: the perfect assassination weapon.

He has a special implant in his chest called a bio engine (Biological Energy Module) which increases strength, reaction time and keeps adrenalin pumping at high levels.

Toby finds out that a company in Los Angeles are prepared to pay him $5 million for the implant.  This bio engine is equipped with a tracking signal which is traceable by the bad guys, hence why they are always hot on his tail and able to locate him.

So, our turbo-driven hero Wong, fresh off a Chinese cargo ship docking in the U.S fights off a group of corporate villains and makes a pirouettic escape off the ship!  Soon after, he enters a bar and gets attacked again by the unrelenting villains. After an intense fight where he disposes of them again, he kidnaps a distressed, down-on-his-luck brooder (Malik Brody, played by Kadeem Hardison) that he finds at the bar and demands to be driven to Los Angeles.

Quite a lot of unwillingness, resistance, outrageous, funny gags and colourful one-liners later (and Brody, the ‘kidnapee’, learning that he will get half the money for his help) the relationship cements on somewhat firmer foundations and they go on their way to L.A.

Drive is all about the journey, the adventures and hijinks that happen along the road!

Action:

All the fight scenes are creative, distinctive and interesting with that raw rollercoaster-ride quality of action only usually featured in Hong Kong movies.

Yes, there is plenty to keep martial-arts and action enthusiasts reaching for the slow-mo or rewind key on their DVD players here!

Some of my favourite scenes include the one at the quarry, where Wong, handcuffed to Brody, fights off Madison and his goons.  He uses a combination of acrobatics, agilty, punches and graceful kicks.  It’s an entertaining and fun scene reminiscent of Jackie Chan’s inventive style.

The motel/garage scene is excellent.  Wong (Mark) does some further acrobatic moves, gymnastic flips, furniture-fu (using close-at-hand objects), close quarter unarmed combat against tasar-wielding baddies and displays a diverse repertoire of kicks.

The end fight scene against the Advanced Model prototype, played by Masaya Kato, is a frenetic showdown where Mark goes all-out demonstrating great energy, flair, style and speed.

That Mark Dacascos actually did most of his own stunts in the movie without overuse of wires, except for the impossible dramatic moves of course, is testament to his true talent and lifelong training as a dedicated martial artist.

Summary:

Drive (along with Only The Strong) were among the first Dacascos movies I saw well over 10 years ago.  To say he is underrated as an actor even in the world of bigger budget kung-fu movies would be a huge understatement and a curious one as he is up there with the world’s best martial performers!

It’s a fast-paced, martial-arts action-comedy with thrills and spills and stunts galore right to the end.  If there’s no action on the screen then its verbal antics, sometimes bizarre, quirky humour and exaggerated expressions (care of Kadeem Hardison and co) take the stage and are played-out to full effect!  In all fairness this is done surprisingly well, and many times it was a case of ad-libbing off script, resulting in a spontaneous, fun and lively dialogue!

For action fans, Drive is an entertaining blast, for kung-fu and Dacascos fans, a must see!

Treat yourself to the UK DVD Director’s Cut edition if you can as it features interviews and a host of other extras giving an insight into what it took to make this highly entertaining movie a winner.

Trivia:

• Koichi Sakamoto and the Alpha Stunt Team who did the stunts for Drive, trained under Yusuaki Kurata, a Japanese veteran martial-arts actor and stunt choreographer with a long list of movies to his credit. Included are such classics as Fist of Legend with Jet Li, Legend of a Fighter, Shanghai Express with Sammo Hung, and more recently Shinjuku Incident with Jackie Chan.   He is a contemporary of legendary martial arts star Sonny Chiba (Kill Bill, The Streetfighter, 1974).

• Mark Dacascos was slightly injured in the making of Drive and had to have stitches over his right eye.

• In the movie Mark’s character when questioned by ‘fake police’ what his name was replied, “Sammo Hung” (Mark at that time had recently finished filming on Martial Law, the American TV series, with Sammo).  Sammo Hung picked up on this when he watched the movie and said to Mark, “You said you me!”  Hung liked the movie too!

• Mark Dacascos on the final outcome of Drive:

“When I’ve seen my work in other movies, you know when it comes to the fight scenes, in my mind I’ll start picking it apart, “Oh that was a bad angle for this or I should have done this or that”.

“When I went to Drive and saw the screening of it, I was so happy because everything flowed and was in context and when it got to the fight sequences, man!  I just thought, Koichi’s fight choreography was awesome, Steve shot it so, so well.  I mean it just captured the movement and the moment, not just in the action but in the emotion you know, I loved it, I really loved it and I had a great time working on the movie.  I mean all the elements together, I just think we had chemistry and once in a great while a bunch of people come together and do something very special and to me Drive is very special. I think it works on an acting level and as an action picture, for me.”

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As the blood flowed in the face of Ryan Gosling in director Nicolas Winding Refn disk as the Cannes audience could not help laughing. It was a laugh, as a result of something funny, it was a laugh of relief this year's Cannes Film Festival has provided a wealth of diversity and the ride seems to be aggression, Capstone head trampling. But as violent and intense as the film may be, has its share of laughter and moments of silence honest, making it the best film I saw at the festival this year. As to the merits - sit - there are plenty of praise for being delivered.

Grade This Movie

User Level: A + (1 rating)

Grade:

"Drive" is a FilmDistrict version, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and is rated R for strong brutal bloody violence, language and nudity.

The cast includes Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac, Christina Hendricks and Ron Perlman.

For more information about this movie images, trailers, and a detailed synopsis of the film to select the next menu.

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Let's start with Ryan Gosling, who turns a cold and stoic performance as a driver, mechanic, Hollywood stuntman and every stock car driver that sometimes the moon illuminates a driver fleeing criminal. Yes, he keeps busy. Impassive and almost without emotion, Gosling creates a character who is calm and cool under pressure, a methodical, focused and reliable, and, of course, a hell of a driver.

We are witnessing the beginning of the driver's skills, although this opening scene is just a taste of the film has to offer action-based entertainment, but it's so good to start anything. As the scene comes to a close Refn space for the opening credits, which are scrawled with the same font used for Purple Rain by Prince, which is only appropriate considering repeated use Refn '80s-esque pop music, a trend continues welcomingly Drive.

But as far as this film has the punch given its unique selection of songs and score, much can be inferred from what is not heard. The pilot is not subject to blind and silence talk of character Harken back to the heroes of hard rock and anti-heroes played by the likes of Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood. Men of action, not words. Driver is the man himself in his most intimate moments we have to know his neighbor, Irene (Carey Mulligan).

Irene lives at home with his son (Kaden Leos) Benicio while her husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac), is in jail. Irene and the pilot of an immediate, although the connection innocent, and as they approach one another, as in the Benicio.

It would be remiss if I did not stop for a moment here to mention scenes of Gosling and Mulligan shared. Silent Dialogue in the first place, these are the scenes where we say more, when you say nothing. I can not think of me romantic life (perhaps in Before Sunset?), Who has so much confidence just said. It is an absolute understanding of human communication, and screenwriter Hossein Amini and Refn and a lot of screenwriters and directors could learn from it.

Returning to detail, mood changes, while the standard driver escapes from prison is now looking out, but not for long as the normal people have to bad a lot of money and try to help clear his debt, and Irene and Benicio sure the driver agrees to act as a soldier during the stand Wheelman shop. Unfortunately for all parties, robbery goes incredibly wrong, what a hell of a chase sequence, which finally ends with the image Gosling blood splattered face indicated opening. It is ten minutes, no less fun than anything I've seen fest last nine days.

Now with a gym bag of money in his possession and the need to maintain and those who care about safety, drivers need to understand how it will change things in their favor. Not one to mince words, the driver takes a hammer and another was a man in his shoe while pound your face more and more and more. If you believe that Jessica Alba has a great The Killer Inside Me, I wonder what is your impression of the disappearance of this poor man.

E ', however, for example, drive is not a one-man show. In fact, supporting the performance, Albert Brooks (Broadcast News), Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad") and Ron Perlman (Cronos) are all excellent, each bringing their own little flavor characteristics.

Cranston plays Shannon, the driver manager / leader, a sort of dream bottom feeder. She put him on a flight a few concerts, oversees his work as a stunt, and he employs in his auto shop. His lameness substantial lead on the wrong side of the first crime, which means they take the risk again, when he decides to ask Bernie Rose (Brooks) is the money to help fund the race team with driver at the wheel.

Brooks is a jewel like Rose. It has wheels and dealer with a shady promoters and supporters when he decides to help Shannon out, he is doing so bringing aspiring mob boss Ron Perlman called Nino, who take advantage of every opportunity to do this, the character, and every example you just want see more. Perlman and the scenes are full of Brooks, one of which ends up the blood and "goodbye", which was in the audience moving.

Finally we come to Refn, director, I can not get enough, then Bronson show two years ago, a movie I will never tire of. Refn is a kind of no excuses manager. He puts on the screen what he wants, not what the focus group determined the best-selling. His films are of major Hollywood studios will not do, but will steal for new talent, as they did when Christopher Nolan Bronson grabbed Tom Hardy Inception.

The signature on the promenade is Refn, music to the atmosphere. The soundtracks of the films to the point that they are not exactly hit the reality, but a hyper-reality where you can connect with the characters, but also enjoy the spectacle of absurdity. Refn talent knows no bounds, his combination of action packed bloody chaos associated with the patient include prolonged periods of silence properly display a manager in control of their environment. Add to that an impressive talent for casting the right people at all times, and you have a movie you want to watch again and again.

GRADE: A +

Rating – A+

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After spending a couple of intense, emotionally draining perfs in "Blue Valentine" and "All Good Things," Gosling swings from one extreme to another, where channeling "Drive," Alain Delon encryption, such as hit man from "The Samouraï" - a cool-as-ice model allows authors to waive the affordable basic story needed to create compassionate criminal types. The key is a one-dimensional characters is that they live a strict code of conduct, and drivers without a name Gosling is no exception.

By sticking to its own set of rules, driver excels in his work, which corresponds to evade police during the night, only to play one of the following days on the set. Gosling icy stoicism of context, hardly a drop of sweat in the film loop in place from the start. In fact, actor reveals no emotion until the third time his character encounters beautiful neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her young son, Benicio (Kaden Leo). Only then will start crack a smile, offering the couple a trip at high speed along the culverts Los Angeles cement river.

Romance proves its production, Irene is not exactly simple. Benicio dad, Standard (Oscar Isaac), comes home from prison a week later, enrollment in a pilot scheme which involves stealing a million dollars for essentially honorable. Things go wrong, the issue of blood and brain splattered with a lack joy, and the pilot is to test their knightly intentions that those responsible for the robbery threatens to undermine and Benicio lost Irene, whose protection clearly enough to drive that is willing to risk his life problems.

Adapted by Hossein Amini (best known for "Wings of the Dove" and other classical literature in the price) by James Sallis' LA-set novel, "Drive" did not really know how to handle the sign of emptiness inside, but compensates with the surrounding rugged colorful protagonists with the package. Not Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad") as a substitute for the father who provides the drivers on its wheels, Ron Perlman as a ruthless head of systems running her strip-mall pizza joint, and Albert Brooks, a cast of delightful against type, as mentioned above, a producer-turned-crime-boss. There are women in the front, Vampy "Mad Men," a red Christina Hendricks makes them too short-sighted, and Mulligan, although undeniably sweet, seems to be too healthy, what is usually the PIC femme fatale role.

As Quentin Tarantino is a movie addict Refn exploitation, so his film references 70 and 80 mirror cult favorites such as "Live and Die in LA" over the replacement part, novels and films was relentless black Sallis. consider these bad influences can be perceived by the opening credits of neon lighting options Refn retro music - a mix of synthesizer tones and catchy tension ratchet club anthems - which together give the film its even tone.

While most action photos of muscle cars are flat visual and narrative, however, "Drive" shows an unmistakable style. With its economy tales parties is the kind of movie that launched her career, but was just beginning Refn, instead of the eighth feature film. However, marks the first Refn pay of Hollywood, giving the opportunity to work with people like Steven Soderbergh, go-to composer Martinez, Cliff, and Bryan Singer dp confidence, Newton Thomas Sigel, whose high-contrast widescreen frame to put a hard edge new headquarters of the East.

Among the many impressive setpieces, the most significant is a white-knuckle chase that once again underlines how little imagination went driving on the screen, to earn a deserved round of enthusiastic applause of the crowd Cannes. (Even though dozens of drivers will be credited, Gosling made a number of their stunts.)

However, it is surprising that a movie called "unity" has no more driving. Amini script explores stunt driver only condition, with only a thin connection between its holdings workdays high as dangerous and of privacy (in the form of a prosthetic mask is the brutality in the Regulations of the film's final accounts). The lack of character psychology is compensated by the practice and the iconic costume. Come Halloween, do not be surprised to see fans dressed in pilot with a degree in satin white jacket with a giant golden scorpion on his back. "Drive" is fetish thereby falling into details like the roar of an engine of GTO or the cracking of gloves Gosling, and should go a long way to improve director and star profiles.

Camera (color, widescreen), editor, Matthew Newman, music, Cliff Martinez, music supervisors, Brian McNelis, Eric Craig, production designer, Beth Mickle; artistic director, Christopher Tandon, decorator, Lisa Morgan session; designer costumes, Erin Benach; sound (Dolby Digital / SDDS / DTS), Robert Eber, sound designers, Lou Bender, Victor Ray Ennis, re-mixers, Robert Fernandez, David Patterson, stunt coordinator Darrin Prescott, effects coordinator special, Jimmy Lorimer, associate producer, Joe Fineman, assistant director, Frank Capra III, casting, Mindy Marin. Critics in Cannes Film Festival (competition), May 19, 2011. Length: 100 min.

Rating – A+

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Nicholas Cage is on a roll -- of acting in terrible movies!  This is Cage's second attempt at a blockbuster hit in 2011.  His last one - Season of the Witch - which hit theaters in January, totally bombed. This is an Oscar award winning actor people!  What is going on?
Alright, back to the movie.
Drive Angry is a misogynistic flick with one trashy male fantasy after another.  There is no substance to this film whatsoever, which I assume is the point, but even so, it's painful to sit through.

At any rate, Drive Angry is a man's dream - the girl's are horny and willing, lots of vintage cars to admire, and explosions at every turn.  Perfect place to live out all your fantasies in 2 hours.

The Plot: Milton (Cage) escapes from hell (although filmmakers try to keep this a carefully crafter mystery) to avenge his daughters death and save his granddaughter who is being sacrificed in a Satanist ritual by an evil cult leader (Billy Burke).  The cult leader thinks he will live forever if he sacrifices this baby.
Milton arrives in a trashy southern town, where he picks up bad-ass waitress Piper (Amber Heard) who is trying to get away from her cheating, abusive fiance, and they start their journey to Louisiana to save the baby. There's lot of explosions and machine-guns along the way as the two try to evade the cult and law enforcement.
To make their journey even more complication, a supernatural operative of Satan, called the Accountant (William Fichtner) arrives to bring Milton back to hell.

The Bad:
The movie could have been better if director Patrick Lussier included a little bit more of what he (and the movie title, Drive Angry) promises.  There aren't that many driving stunt.  Most of the film features the cool '69 charger or 454 Chevelle SS driving down the road, with Cage in the driver seat and easy-on-the-eyes Heard riding along as the passenger.
Milton is completely detached from the reason behind his journey. He doesn't seem angry or even remotely emotional about the upcoming sacrifice of his granddaughter.  You lose any sense of why he's killing all these people and putting his life? in danger.

The gratuitous sex scenes are a little much, even for this R-rated action flick.  There is a scene in the film where Cage is completely clothed and his sexual escapade (Charlotte Ross) is buck naked.  Cage is attacked by a group from the evil cult and must fend them off while holding on to the naked waitress.  It goes on for far too long and becomes more uncomfortable than entertaining.
The entire dialogue is one awful cliche after another.  The film doesn't flow, nor does it seem like Milton and Piper would be having the type of conversations going on throughout the film.  The speaking parts are awkwardly delivered and don't add much of anything. More explosions, less talking, please.

The Good:
Amber Heard does a great job in the film as a trashy waitress. I actually believed she was a trashy waitress, not just acting like one, which says something about her skills. She's perfectly groomed throughout the whole film, even when she's been beaten and attacked, but we'll ignore that completely unrealistic discrepancy because that's the least of this film's problems.
The 3D effects are actually pretty good in the film. They use the explosions and car chases as much as possible to create a great 3D experience for moviegoers. Patrick Lussier sure knows how to use 3D to the greatest advantage and he really did a good job implementing the new technology in a way that not all directors can do.

Drive Angry really doesn't add anything to the world of film, it has terrible diologue, and a horrible plot that doesn't actually come through at all in the less than 2 hour film. You can definitely find some entertainment in the gratuitous explosions and death-defying stunts, but that's about it.  Don't expect anything else from this flick.
If you're a car-loving, fantasy-driven guy who wants to escape life for a couple hours and watch an action-packed movie - this one's for you!

Rating – A+

Drive Movie Online 2011

Mile-o-meter is running all the way back to the 1980s to conduct an existential Heist movie takes off his cap on the back catalogs Walter Hill, John Carpenter and Michael Mann. Made with expert aplomb, as the Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, this piece under a cloudy sky and a narcotic Thrums LA synth-pop soundtrack, as it rises next to a rifle in Hollywood stuntman in danger. Fasten your seatbelts, it's an adventure.

Ryan Gosling shines the driver, who turns the car for a living and sometimes the lights of the moon as a refuge from man's jewel thieves and bank robbers, giving them five minutes of his time, after which they are alone . Driver soon realizes, is an American riff Samouraï solitary Jean-Pierre Melville, smiling and calm, his moral compass for the neutral. Then one day she shares a lift neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan, playing thoughtfully), and runs a clean way. Irene is an ex-prisoner, ex-husband called quasi-Standard (Oscar Isaac), who needs to do one last job to pay his debts, and care for his family. Inevitably, the robbery goes wrong. Now, the driver has to run, take your luggage bag and drive a couple of gangsters (performed with enthusiasm by Ron Perlman and Albert Brooks), followed by another right-back.

Refn made his name with the Pusher trilogy and ran wild with the Vikings of Valhalla Rising last year. Hard grabs in the role of a tourist, of course, to dive into the atmosphere of torpor in southern California. He spends his time on the road or cruising the strip-mails, interrupted only for brief bursts of dialogue and sudden eruptions of violence that had an audience of Cannes rocking and whooping in their seats. If the road looks familiar from a hundred other movies, either. Driver certainly heading straight to hell, and dive down has a certain dramatic intensity.

Refn film plays in the main competition at Cannes, where it is against the likes of The Tree of Life, Le Havre and the artist. He can not win, not win, and almost certainly should not win. It is too consciously retro, too much of a series of fresh, shiny surfaces, as opposed to a rounded, the drama of texture. In all cases, the B-movies of this kind are rarely directed towards victory. They are disruptive, disreputable intruders at the party, pointed to disaster and tried to meet a bloody end. The most they can hope for is going down in a blaze of glory. The reader, with bells on.