Sunday, November 9, 2014

Saturday Night Movie: Drive

Driver is a stunt-driver in Hollywood by day, a mechanic on the weekends and a very quiet neighbour to a hot blond-haired single Mum.  He's quiet and unusual; keeping to himself until he finds he's attracted to her, can't keep his eyes off her, because she's alone.
But he doesn't talk to her, not until he's out shopping one day and finds his car's been broken into and her at her car with its bonnet up.  Driver takes her home and organises to have her car looked at by his work.  He starts to get involved with her, feeling protective of her and her son when she reveals to him that her husband is in prison - as he knows all about it from a life so far ago, it's almost alien to him...

...almost.

But then, one day, her husband comes home.  A party is going in their neighbouring apartment, and all seems well; until her husband is introduced to Driver.  This is when Driver notices that there's more to this guy's story - that he's hunted inside as well as on the outside.
One evening, Driver comes home to find his neighbour's husband beaten up, his son hiding around the corner crying and he asks what happened.  The husband tells him and he considers getting in one more heist to protect the woman he loves and to make sure her husband is never hunted again - as well as to protect their son.  When he talks to her son, he hands him a bullet, telling him that he was told not to lose it.

Well, the whole thing is arranged.  All Driver does is drive the getaway car.  He doesn't do anything else.  The guy organising the whole thing won't pay him - driver doesn't give two tosses - and all that needs to happen is to get it over and done with.

However, Driver trusted the wrong people.
The man organising this thing was working for the Mob, who employs his boss at the garage, who in turns employs Driver. 
So, they all know he's driving the car ... and they know his moves.
What they don't know is that he's a great driver because he's done this before... and knows how to get away from people like them....

...but does he?

'Driver' was a movie on SBS which I happen to flick over to while channel surfing.  When I saw Ron Perlmann's name flick on the screen, I sat down and watched it.  There were only three commercial breaks and I found it a great film, based on a book of the same name by James Sallis.  The reviews of the book are mixed with most people saying it had a great protagonist, however, the film was much better because the plot of the book was paper thin.  The movie was fantastic... I loved it and at the same time was horrified at how far Driver would go to keep only the few steps he needed to keep from being killed.  Totally worth watching... I didn't miss a beat, and didn't want to.

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