A note about Drive

This was taken from a Facebook post I made a while ago, that Stephen had interest in reading.

"It's the second best film released so far this year, and has one of the best use of a prop I've ever seen: the scorpion jacket. The third time I watched it, I paid close attention to when the scorpion emblem was visible and when it wasn't. During the courting scenes, The Driver was either not wearing it, or the scorpion logo was out of sight. The first time it's featured prominently on screen is during the scene at the diner when he first lets on to his true nature with the gentleman that approaches him. During all of the execution scenes the scorpion is always visible, and you rarely ever see the action from the front view of The Driver."

Two corrections: It ended up being my favorite film of the year, and I believe that the importance of the Scorpion emblem is even more important now than I did then.

One of my favorite touches is that, true to his nature, we see the birth of the "scorpion" (AKA The Driver's true nature) in the elevator, and after he's done brutally killing the guy, the Driver just stands there breathing so heavily that the scorpion on his jacket (the most prominently featured appearance of the emblem at that point of the film) appears to be breathing as well, as if he has finally come to life.

The film to me, is all about accepting who you are, for better or for worse. And for the Driver, it means making the ultimate sacrifice: losing the only one who seems to accept him in exchange for her safety.

It's a pretty good movie, but you forgot to mention what the scorpion actually symbolises other than the true Driver/Deluxe. It symbolises an aggresive-defense, someone who is able to do horribly violent things and destroy lives, but not without provocation. The Driver never goes out of his way to hunt anyone down, and at the start of the film he turns down the use of guns. This shows he deliberately tries to avoid violence, and only resorts to it when there is no other option.

- In the elevator scene he only attacks when it's clear he's going to be killed.
- He only goes after Nino after he sends men after him.
- He only kills the shotgun henchmen after they attack and kill Blanche.
- Bernie Rose is killed only after he attacks The Driver/Deluxe, he wanted to give him the money instead of exacting revenge.

I have to say, the films opening was probably one of the most intriguing and suspenseful openings of the year, but it was all down hill after that (for me, at least). I couldn't get passed the awkward dialogue and the nameless character.