1) It was very good; but some parts moved a bit too slow, beyond simply establishing a mood into slowing the movie territory. I’m not saying the movie overall should have been faster paced but just certain scenes.
2) While the storyline isolated from everything else was kind of lacking and overdone; the acting, directing, soundtrack, etc. really set it apart and gave it a fresh take.
3) You could definitely tell it was a European director who did it. The reason why Drive was so good was that it wasn’t simply an action movie in the American sense. There really wasn’t much driving or action; but when it happened, they made it count. Plus, they didn’t have a bunch of cheesy one liners and stereotypical characters. Even the mob guy played by Perlman was a Jewish mafioso. When do you really see that?
4) Apparently, there is an interest in making a Drive 2, based on the upcoming sequel novel Driven. Now, this didn’t really strike me as a movie that would or should get a sequel. However, I would be interested to see how they do it, especially since there is talk of adding another driver to serve as a counterpart to Gosling. They did a good job of avoiding cliche’ and stereotypes in this one, so they could maybe pull it off. Time will tell.
5) I enjoyed that it had a retro feel to it but didn’t come off as cheesy and gimmicky.
6) I could definitely see Gosling becoming the Steve McQueen of our generation, and I’m completely fine with that.
7) I’m not sure if it’s movie of the year for me. I still need to see The Artist and Midnight in Paris (and other films from this year, I’m sure); but it is definitely amongst the best I’ve seen this year.
