directed by Nicolas Winding Refn
This movie is about a stunt driver (Ryan Gosling). He also repairs cars for Shannon (Bryan Cranston) who owns a garage. He is also a getaway driver. He doesn't have a name. He is just named Driver in the credits. Driver's life gets a little complicated when he meets Irene (Carey Mulligan), his neighbor and her son. His relationship with her starts when he helps her out when her car breaks down. He hangs out with her and her son. They go on a date. Stan (Oscar Isaac), her husband is in prison but he gets out a week after Driver and Irene meet.
Stan isn't too happy to learn that her wife has a male friend. Stan winds up needing some help from Driver. Stan is in trouble. He owes money to the mob. They want him to knock off a pawn shop. Driver agrees to help him, as the getaway driver. The hold up goes sideways. Stan gets killed. Driver is pursued by another car. He kills a couple men who come after him.
Nino (Ron Perlman), the big boss who ordered the hit on the pawn shop, is the business partner of Bernie (Albert Brooks), who is in turn Shannon's boss. Things get messy as Nino and Bernie try to clean things up. Driver isn't very cooperative.
The movie seems pretty upbeat for the first half hour or so. Things start to head downhill after that. Things get dire after the robbery. Things also get extremely violent at that point. It isn't wall to wall violence but when it is violent it is pretty graphic and not in a comic book sort of way. After a point I just accepted that it was part of the formula.
I'm not completely won over by Ryan Gosling's performance but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. There are cracks in Driver's armor. He isn't well adjusted. It reminds me a bit of Jake Gylenhall's performance in Nightcrawler in that way, although that came out three years later in 2014.
The music helped to make this movie. It really worked for me. It kept me on the edge of my seat.
This was a pretty intense ride. I'm glad I watched it. I think there's a reason I had not given it a chance before now. It doesn't seem very appealing from the outside looking in. It has a very noir feel to it once I started to watch. I didn't expect it to have a happy ending, and it didn't. It does have an ambiguous ending. I'm okay with that.
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