The guy was trying to pull of the mysterious stranger / silent loner/ toughguy act,
such as Clint Eastwood might have done in his westerns , as one example.
Or Snake Plisken.....
but he just came off a a maladjusted ignorant social retard.
I was shouting at the TV "Some one just spoke to you - you are supposed to reply! Whats wrong with you???"
Definitly more if a 'damaged' boy vibe, than a 'stoic' man vibe going on with him...
I still think it worked well in this movie, but not in same way...
Have you seen Thief? Drive borrows some of it's mood and themes, but in that movie James Caan playes the main character and is much more of a human being, even though he has lost a lot of time being in prison and in tough situations...
I think it would have worked better if it was a different actor than Ryan Gosling. He just has a boy band face. "Cute" and "hot" in a school girl fawning over him kind of way, but not "handsome" and "manly" in a woman dropping her panties to inject herself with his seed before she hits her deadline sort of way. If the character was a little rougher around the edges, a bit of stubble, and dark hair rather than blonde, it would have worked much better.
Also, perhaps with a brown leather jacket rather than the pillowy 80's glam rock jacket would have worked better.
This is true. It was a fine set up, but, Goose is incapable of executing it. So, like the sheep we are we just sat there & sat thru it because something way back in our minds had seen this before (mark's Eastwood) and we thought it was going to alright. No, we took for granted that it would be alright.
Years later we recognize that we were duped and now live in regret on this case.
It happens.
Ryan just can't do this. It doesn't work. Clint and Tommy Lee Jones pull it off.
shareNah, Gosling pulls it off. Sure he has boyish good looks but he’s also wired, lean and cut. He’s made a career out of these antisocial psychos with a dull stare.
Does he have the gravitas of Clint? Of course not, but he’s doing his own thing and it works.
Joe Pesci showed us that you don’t need to be a big, gruff fella to be intimidating. He’s basically a munchkin dwarf yet portrays the most terrifying violent psychopaths put on film.
Yea just saw this movie & it's good. Has uh an old school vibe going on u know. Gosling has a mystery about him that u can't put a finger on. He's calm & controlled & also gets angry with a controlled rage if that makes sense.
shareGood point, Gosling has an ‘unknowable’ quality, a bit like Walken.
shareGood observation op
shareHe just seemed seething angry and we never learn why. Maybe that’s why his innocent romance with the girl next door never really catches fire as one might expect.
The Driver is sort of nuts.
Most of the time he’s chill, it’s only when shit goes crazy that he shifts into beast-mode.
The only time I was surprised by his anger was when that dude approached him for a friendly chat and he told him to shut-up before he kicks his teeth down his throat. Now, of course Driver doesn’t want this blabbermouth to reveal that he’s secretly a getaway driver, but on my last rewatch I realised he’s burning from Irene’s husband returning from prison.
He’s upset that the love of his life is now off-limits forever.