Mrs. FtG and I watched it this weekend. We both loved it. She was put off a little by the sound track. (I like most, but not all the songs.) So it’s not just a “guy flick”. The relationship between Irene and The Driver was crucial to the story.
IMDb says that Mulligan and Gosling insisted on dropping a lot of the dialogue and go with meaningful looks. Came fairly close to going overboard, but it really framed their characters well.
My only real complaint is how unrealistic it is for The Driver to be making a living doing the getaway driving for random people. Without any trust system at all (at the level of a Mafia connection) he’s going to get screwed over/killed within 2 or 3 jobs. (And even in the modern mob, his expected lifetime is very short.)
(That and if you have Christina Hendricks in a movie, you give her a much more significant role. She seems to have gotten too many tiny movie roles lately.)
Keep in mind you’re not supposed to know much about The Driver. E.g., not even his name. He’s just a driver/mechanic. Once he steps out of that world, the real trouble begins.
I liked it too, although the slow pacing punctuated by brief moments of extreme violence was a little jarring. Gosling and Mulligan did a great job conveying emotion with very little dialogue. And I agree the marketing completely misrepresented the movie.
Saw it last night, and thought it was very good. Don’t quite understand some of the vitriol, possibly people had other expectations of it? I’m glad I knew before I saw it that it wasn’t an out-and-out action film. I’d describe it as a modern fable.
The opening getaway sequence was very well done. It establishes that the most crucial aspects of his job are planning and keeping a cool head. To me, that’s far more interesting than an unrealistic superhuman. It also gives the story much more of a dramatic edge. The protagonist can’t rely on doing the impossible to escape any situation, every time he uses his skills there is a chance of failure, if he is unlucky.
That was probably the weakest part of the film, and that section did drag a bit, but it’s a difficult thing to convey. It becomes easier to accept if you consider that both Irene and the Driver were a little bit desperate, and looking for someone to latch onto. Irene has serious issues with her husband, while the Driver doesn’t really have a life.
I think action scenes are a lot more dramatic when used sparingly. I thought the pacing worked well for this film, it gave me time to think about the nature of the Driver.
There was a small peek, and I think it tells you everything you need to know about him. Shannon tells Irene that he simply turned up one day looking for a job. Something bad has happened, and he has been forced to sever all connections with his previous life. Given that he then becomes involved in crime, it seems likely that he was not altogether blameless in whatever happened. He has lost his way, and the events of the film give him an opportunity to redeem himself. This is what I mean by the film being something of a modern fable. In a film of quite realistic characters, the Driver becomes a very old-fashioned sort of hero, with a simple moral outlook. He is more Shane than Travis Bickle.
I watched this recently. I loved it. I’m a sucker for a visually beautiful movie, and this was. I also liked the acting and action. I can see how it might not be for everybody.
I definitely will say it was a little off-putting when my wife decided to watch Finding Nemo the next day.
I watched it last night. I liked it and thought it was well done. The 80s-ish synth-poppy music actually seemed pretty strange to me. I enjoyed the mood and atmosphere, though.
I just noticed no one responded to this. He made his living as a stunt driver for movies, which was shown. The other thing was strictly a sideline, moonlighting. He probably only took the side jobs for fun and to use his skills, since he didn’t need the money. Stunt drivers get paid a lot.
The only thing I found impressive about this movie was the soundtrack. Ryan Gosling was not good. Why was he wearing the mask when he confronted Hellboy? I really wanted to like the movie, but I couldn’t get over how bad Ryan Gosling was. “You undastand?”
He wore it to peek into the Pizzeria without revealing himself. He was then wearing it when parked outside waiting for Nino. He didn’t have a chance to take it off.
