- Director : Steve Wang
- Actors : Mark Dacascos, Kadeem Hardison, John Pyper-Ferguson, Brittany Murphy, Tracey Walter
Enjoyment of Drive will dependent
entirely on the viewer’s appreciation of good fight choreography and tolerance
for a derivative narrative. Released straight-to-video in the late 1990s, Drive
wasn’t trying to reinvent the buddy action comedy as much as it was
capitalizing on the success of the sub-genre. At the same time, the fight scenes
in the film are often better than a majority of the theatrically released films
from the decade, and certainly more impressive than the CGI-laden action
dominating movies today. It may not be a masterpiece, but Drive is
hidden gem sure to be appreciated by fans of action.
Mixing in an
element of science-fiction, Drive follows Hong Kong special agent Toby
Wong (Mark Dacascos) after he is equipped with an advanced bio-device giving
him superhuman speed, strength, and agility. Trying to keep the technology out
of Chinese control, Wong travels to Los Angeles with plans of selling the
technology for $5 million. He is pursued by assassin Vic Madison (John
Pyper-Ferguson) and a team of mercenaries, who attempt to capture him before
the sale is complete. Wong’s only ally is an unemployed songwriter named Malik
Brody (Kadeem Hardison), who he first uses as a hostage and getaway driver to
escape an attack.
As Brody helps
Wong get to the meet-up location for the sale, the film turns into a road trip
buddy action film. With all of the various genres combined, Drive is
surprisingly simplistic. There are series of chase and fight scenes, mixed with
banter between the two very different dual protagonists. Often everything but
the action feels like filler, but even subpar acting and one-liners are
bearable when the action starts up again. Thankfully, it is never long between
action sequences, choreographed brilliantly by Koichi Sakamoto.
The 4K release
of Drive includes an Ultra High Definition presentation of the extended
director’s cut of the film from a brand new 4K scan of the original camera
negative. It is presented in Dolby Vision with Dolby Atmos. The original cut is
also available with an alternate musical score. Special features include a
commentary track with director Steve Wang, who is joined by Sakamoto, Dacascos,
and Hardison. There is also a making-of documentary, six additional deleted
scenes, and interviews with key cast and crew members. The package comes with
new artwork by Sam Gilbey, though the reversible sleeve also contains the
original poster art. The mini poster of the new artwork is also included in the
package.
Entertainment Value:
/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: /10
Historical
Significance: /10
Special Features:
/10
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