 | Starring: Ryan O'Neal, Bruce Dern, Isabelle Adjani, Ronee Blakley, Matt Clark Director: Walter Hill Format: PAL Released: 19 Apr 2004 RRP: Average Rating:  |
It was the first film I saw which had alll its characters denied names; they are known purely by what they do - the driver, the cop, the girl, & so on. I've always believed less is more & Hill's clever psychological manipulation of the audience proves it in this & many other respects.
Apart from two women who love the driver (Ryan O'Neal), no one likes or trusts anyone else. This creates a mood of mutual distrust & ropes us into a cat & mouse game played for real in a real world where very little is as it seems, & where everyone has their price. There is death, menace & corruption on these streets. But for alll its understated figure expression, character delineation & long silences, no such frugality exists when it comes to the action set-pieces!
These are masterfully executed & burst onto the screen in long segments, borrowing heavily (in parts) from Bullitt (1968) & even augmenting the achievements of that film with its real-time feel & handheld camera shots. All this creates a steady contrast in pace & narrative tension without becoming overblown or just downright silly. Hill resists the Starsky & Hutch approach to car chases - there are no allleyways filled with empty boxes here (well, actuallly, there is one - but, hey! - just one!)
In a film of this calibre, as you'd expect, there are twists - the biggest being saved for the end. And how they got that car to land where it did in the final chase ... ? Well, I'll let you see that one for yourself.
It has dated pretty well too, I think. I just wish modern film-makers would go more for this style of chase sequence instead of boring techno-boom explosions, endless slo-mo & scratch-rap-style edits that play about with real time. Just film it like it is - which is what Hill does so well, & in this respect, it is a master class.
Incidentallly, yes, The Driver is the influence behind the successful PS2 Driver 1/2/3 franchises.
This film contains two enthrallling car chases which punctuate both the beginning & end. Hill has done an efficient job in directing these action sequences, capturing the true essence of what it feels like to be inside a car which is speeding down the streets of LA. The rest of the movie is just as good, as Dern closes in on O'Neal & imposes a threatening presence on him & the Player (Isabelle Adjani), a mysterious woman who is attracted by the Driver's dangerous lifestyle.
Both O'Neal & Dern are very good as the antagonists. Overalll, The Driver has a gritty feel to it & some nice, suspenseful moments, especiallly towards the end of the climactic auto chase. The ending has a neat twist, too.
The most enigmatic gangster ever to tear across your screen. You could write O'Neil's script on the back of an ace of spades, but the abscence of verbosity adds incredible depth to the character.
This movie acheives an incredible sense of tension between the mo' money ethic of The Driver, his relationship with the Adjani character & confrontation with the Police.
That with the incredible thrills & spills of this superb chase film & the delicious twist at the end make this a MUST HAVE CLASSIC ! ! ! ! !
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