A good movie

I already saw this movie but since it didn't really blow me away the first time around, I was really eager to give it a second chance. Indeed, back then, I did take me 2 years after its release to finally watch this seemingly overhyped feature. To be honest, I am always rather cautious with such movies and the fact that I tend to build up some sky high expectations doesn’t help. Eventually, I thought it was indeed pretty good but, to be honest, nothing really amazing, I’m afraid. Sure, I have to admit that it looked really terrific and it is even more impressive when you think that Nicolas Winding Refn had no knowledge of Los Angeles before shooting this flick (Apparently, Ryan Gosling drove him around to make him acquainted with the City of Angels). Furthermore, the music was just great, one of the most mesmerizing soundtracks I came across lately. The actors were also pretty good and I especially enjoyed Albert Brooks who was phenomenal playing against type a ruthless gangster. So, how come I didn’t really love this movie like (apparently) everyone else? Honestly, I didn’t care much about the story. Basically, the whole thing takes place just because the guy has a thing for his neighbor, that’s it. I thought it was pretty thin and the romantic intrigue was hardly convincing. Basically, you have a guy and a girl and they fall for each over for no particular reason except that without this love affair, there wouldn’t be any story to tell. I also had a hard time to care for the main character. Indeed, Gosling delivered a solid performance but since you don’t learn much about him, he always remained a little too far away. I understand that he was a throwback to such characters like ‘The Man with No Name’ immortalized by Clint Eastwood but the big difference is that ‘The Man with No Name’ obviously didn’t give a sh*t about anything and that was the only thing you needed to know about him. In the case of ‘The Driver’, there was obviously a lot going on in his head but since you never get to know him, it was rather frustrating. Still, they managed to create a great mood and I definitely enjoyed the whole thing. Basically, it was all style here but no substance whatsoever. Anyway, to conclude, even though it didn’t completely work for me, it remains a really intriguing movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

7/10