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| DRIVE. Starring - Mark Dacascos - Kadeem Hardison - Brittany Murphy - Masaya Kato. Director - Steve Wang. In 1997 after the Chinese take over of Hong Kong a volunteer was sought by the government to undergo a medical experiment. Toby Wong became the lab rat and was implanted with a biological energy implant. The purpose of this device was to make him stronger and faster, the perfect assassin. A member of the anti communist party is to be Toby Wong’s next target, but instead of killing her he falls in love with her. This doesn’t go down too well with his bosses at the Leung Corporation and they murder her anyway, then turn their attentions to the failed assassin seeking to retrieve the implant at any cost. Toby learns of a rival company in the USA willing to pay him $5.000.000 for the implant and so he sets of, to at least get something from the experiment. After arriving in San Francisco Toby soon learns that his former employers are not going to give up that easily as a team of assassins are sent to take him back to Hong Kong. First and foremost this is an action/buddy movie with little regard shown to any actual plot development. The plot is divulged within the first 20 minutes leaving the rest of the movie open to action sequences of which there are plenty. Along the way we are introduced to a couple of new characters merely to help sell this movie to the American market. Kadeem Hardison as Malik the typically downtrodden buddy and Brittany Murphy as Deliverance the hyperactive daughter of a quite destroyable motel are quite competent actors in their own rights but don’t be fooled, they are simply here for comic relief / eye candy only. I don’t tend to go out of my way for Americanised martial arts movies, but this one is different. All the fight scenes are expertly put together by choreographer Koichi Sakamoto, bringing the best out of Mark Dacoscos. A lot of the sequences are reminiscent of anything Jackie Chan has done before but that doesn’t make them any less entertaining as we are treated to some excellent wire work and fast paced fighting with a comedic element. You only have to witness the motel fight scene where Dacoscos dons rubber soled boots on his hands to fight the tazer wielding hitmen to realise just how special this movie is. The fights are intensified even further by the brilliant camerawork of director Steve Wang as he pans around the actors with ease. The soundtrack however is unfortunate at best, with little regard as to what impact the music would have on the fight scenes. The music at most times is way too low and unfitting of the scene. Shame. Overall Drive is a movie that fight fans will love but if you want a solid story line with interesting characters then look elsewhere. 7*******stars. |
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