Drive: A violent reaction.

****Spoilers**** 

Drive was with out doubt my favourite film of 2011. Anybody who knows me will attest that I talked and remain to talk incessantly about this film for months since I first saw it. Anyway i am not here to review drive as i can do that in one sentence.

Drive review... see it...now...why are you still here?...

Have you seen it yet?

I could talk for hours about the incredible aesthetic of the film or Ryan Goslings man crush inducing performance. However the weeks and months that have superseded the release of the film the one aspect of the film I seem to here about more than any, is the violence it contains.

Over the past few weeks I have read a number of articles. However to my dismay they have focused solely on the violence contained within the film. Now I personally believe there are two types of violence in film, justified and unjustified (gratuitous). Wether violence is justified or not I feel is a question of a characters journey through the story of a film. Drive is not violent from the out set, not by any means. In fact on the contrary it first act is a slow ponderous one. We are introduced to the unnamed driver as a man of cool disposition and of strict rules. It is only in the disequilibrium of the second act that our heroes hand is forced. It is by the actions of others and Gosling need to preserve the relationship of a young family that his violent side is seen. 

The perfect example being the lift scene. Gosling and Mulligan enter the lift and Gosling actions are reactive to the fact their fellow lift occupant is a gun toting hit man. However unlike a Bond film where Gosling would now doubt cunningly steal the hitman's gun and with a hilarious quip shoot him in the chest, or a Bourne film where he would kill him with a pen or a paper clip. Gosling kills the man in the only most ordinary men would be able to. brute force and sheer aggression. In a film that had up until this moment been simmering with cool intrigue this out burst is terrifying to witness. This is how ever primal a man protecting a woman he loves. You see most men, despite what we all like to think are not trained assassin and killers. We are instinctive and this is the genuine fight or flight reaction to the situation our protagonist finds himself in. Also adding to the honesty of this scene is Mulligans reaction she does not thank him for saving her life, she walks away not saying anything she is the personification of the audience reaction. However as the film goes by she realises his action are reactive and ultimately he men are products of circumstance not vice versa. In the finale we see Mulligan clearly reflective and ultimately forgiving. This is what I ask of the viewer. Don't think of violence as good or bad, think of it contextually is it a reaction to the characters circumstance or is it in contradiction. 

But ultimately see Drive as it is absolutely incredible. If it does not sound your cup of tea then watch Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as everyone knows murder, rape and erotic asphyxiation are fine as long as its arty,in Swedish and subtitled. Oh and just so you know its original title in Swedish: Män som hater kvinnor literally means "men who hate women". Nice..."but anyway the book was better"...hypocrite