"Driven" With Decent Mileage

A friend of mine recommended I check out Drive a while back. To me, the title sounded cool and I initially pictured an intense racing or heist movie filled with high speed chases. What I got was at times very intense, but not exactly high speed. Director Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive is an ambitious movie that tries to blend thought provoking drama with intense action, but doesn't quite cross the finish line.

The movie stars Ryan Gosling as "the driver," an unnamed stunt driver who also works in a garage run by the sleazy Shannon (played by Bryan Cranston) and occasionally as a getaway driver. The driver is kind of a loner, who lives by himself in a small apartment and isn't into much other than his aforementioned jobs. That is, until he meets his neighbor Irene played by Carey Mulligan and her son Benicio.

The driver hits it off pretty well with the two of them, though he appears very distant. He takes them for rides in his car, hangs out in their apartment, and generally seems to live a life with them outside of work. All of this changes when Irene's husband Standard comes back from prison. Standard's return not only ruins any hope for the driver and Irene getting together, but his criminal past catches up to him. To save Irene and Benicio, the driver takes on a shady job that leads him down a violent road and puts him at odds with crime lords Bernie Rose and Nino, played by Ron Perlman.

Though it may sound exciting, the movie decides to go at a deliberately slow pace. With a title like Drive, I have to say I was expecting a little more. Throughout the movie, the camera focuses a lot on the emotions and interactions between the characters and less on the action. This would have been an interesting approach, except all the characters for the most part feel like archetypes and not fully fleshed out people- the driver is the loner, Shannon is the sleazy boss, Irene is the love interest, and  Nino is the bad guy.

None of the action  picks up until halfway through the movie. Until that point, much of the action consists of the driver waiting in his car or going about his daily routine. This isn't exactly a bad thing though, as this approach offers us some insight into the driver's life- but again, he doesn't really feel that interesting. Half of the time- including the scenes with Irene and Benicio- the driver just stares off into space.

That's not to say there isn't any action at all. When the action hits the screen, it hits hard.  There are scenes when people literally get blown away by shotguns, slashed by straight razors, and face stomped. There are also a few really cool car chases that were filmed at just the right speed to not leave the audience dizzy. Because of the lack of action earlier in the movie, these scenes actually come out a lot more visceral than they normally would have, and were a definite highlight of the movie.

Another thing I really liked about the movie was the soundtrack. No matter what was happening on screen, the '80s influenced electronic soundtrack was there to give the movie an ethereal, dream like tone. To me, this tone fits really well with the thoughts and emotions that I imagined to be going through the ever staring driver's head.

When it comes down to it, Drive is an alright movie. Though it suffers from a slow beginning and undeveloped characters, Drive tries to make up for it with visually stunning action scenes and a much more intense final half. My verdict is a 7 out of 10.

               

    

      

"Dreddful" In a Good Way

When I heard there was a new Judge Dredd movie out I panicked, fearing it was going to be another goofy romp like 1995's Judge Dredd. Flashbacks of Rob Schneider filled stupidity and Sylvester Stallone screaming "LAAAAAWW!" invaded my mind when I found Dredd on Netflix, but I had to check it out anyway. Thankfully, director Pete Travis' Dredd steers in the opposite direction of its '90's counterpart to deliver an adrenaline fueled, ultra-violent action movie that also knows how to use its brain.

Based on the British comic series Judge Dredd, Dredd is set in the futuristic dystopia of Mega City One. A large urban sprawl spreading from Boston to Washington DC, the city is plagued with a never ending crime rate. Keeping order in the chaos are the Judges- a military style police force with the powers of judge, jury, and on site executioner. The story follows the eponymous Judge Dredd as he trains rookie Cassandra Anderson, who initially failed her aptitude test but was reconsidered because of her psychic abilities.

Anderson is plunged right into the deep end as she and Dredd are called in to investigate the slummy, 200 story Peach Trees apartment block. The entire block is under control by drug lord Madeline Mardigal (aka Ma Ma) who controls the production and distribution of the highly addictive Slow Mo, a drug that makes time go at 1% its normal speed. Not about to give up on her empire, Ma Ma puts the block on lock down and sends wave upon wave of thugs to try and wipe out the two Judges. The key word here is try. 

This movie works on so many levels. First of all are the great performances from the lead actors. Karl Urban's Dredd channels an equal amount of Dirty Harry and Boba Fett to create one super bad ass force to be reckoned with, fueled by an unrelenting sense of justice. While he isn't invincible, Dredd stops at nothing to ensure that Ma Ma receives her death sentence. Not once in the movie does he ever remove his helmet, and the only sign of emotion we see from him is his constant frown.

Meanwhile, Olivia Thirlby's performance as Anderson shows a kind of vulnerability and sensitivity that we don't see in Dredd. The two contrasting personalities create a unique atmosphere on screen, with Dredd's black and white sense of morality directly clashing against Anderson's grey. Even her method of dispensing justice differs from Dredd's- while he usually goes right for his gun, Anderson tries to reason or use her psychic powers whenever possible. Anderson also has a deep character arc in the movie, going from a nervous rookie to a battle hardened, fully fledged Judge.

The action sequences in this movie are some of the most intense I've seen in a while. There are many memorable moments, such as the opening high speed chase scene,a fiery shootout between Dredd and some perps, and a jaw dropping scene with 3 mini-guns. A preference for practical effects with minimal CGI helps ground the action in reality, while the pulsating beat of the industrial soundtrack emphasizes it.

One thing I especially liked about the movie was it was mainly set in one location. By taking place primarily in the Peach Trees apartment block, the movie is able to have a plot that is simplistic yet heart pumping. This also makes it so the movie very rarely, if ever, strays away from the plot.

While all of these elements work so well for the movie, Dredd does have a few flaws keeping it from being perfect. For instance, there are some scenes that were shot to simulate the effects of Slow Mo. In these scenes, the action slows way down and all the colors become hyper saturated. To me, these scenes took away from the action at hand and eliminated some of the grittiness of the atmosphere. The exception to this is one scene where Dredd and Anderson take on a room full of Slow Mo junkies.

My only other complaint about the movie is that Ma Ma felt pretty undeveloped. This works for Dredd's character because he is balanced by Anderson-but with nothing to balance off of and with a minimal back story, Ma Ma just feels like a generic villain.

All things considered, Dredd is a great film. By balancing brutal violence with deep characterization and seeping it in reality, Dredd goes above and beyond what the typical action movie sets out to do. My verdict is a 9 out of 10.