Crazy, Crazy Good Action: Drive: The Director's Cut (1997)

I can't quite believe it's taken me two years of writing this blog to get around to reviewing the film Drive. I'm not talking about the Ryan Gosling one (though that's awesome too for different reasons and I'll be reviewing it very soon) I'm talking about the amazing martial arts film from 1997 that was directed by Steve Wang (who also did the Guyver movies). It's probably one of my favourite films of all time and I can't begin to count how many times I've watched it. It's just such a fun action movie; the kind they don't really make anymore. Everything is dour and brooding now. I think at the time it didn't get the reception it deserved and partially that was the fault of the producers who edited it down to a lean 90 minutes and shoved it out direct to video. Luckily, it got much better reception in the UK and I think that was down to it being released in an extended two hour director's cut over here.

The film sees Mark Dacascos play Toby Wong, a seemingly ordinary man on the run from a group of bounty hunters led by Vic Madison (John Pyper-Ferguson). In order to get away from his pursuers Wong kidnaps an innocent bystander, Malik (Kadeem Hardison) and forces him at gunpoint to drive to LA. It turns out that the bounty hunters can't just kill Wong because they want what is inside his body. You see he's been fitted with an experiment "bio-engine unit" by an evil Chinese corporation which increases his strength, speed, stamina and fighting skills to near superhuman levels. Wong needs to get to LA in three days in order to sell the technology to an American businessman. Malik agrees to help him and the two hit the road but it's going to be far from an easy ride and there's going to be whole load of detours.

The first thing I've got to say is that fight work and stunts in the film are way, way above average, particularly for an American production. Hats off to the choreographer Koichi Sakamoto and his Alpha Stunts Team. There's a little bit of wire work used here and there but it's only really used to enhance fights rather than create massively unrealistic moves. Instead of using it for lifting fighters in the air (like Crouching Dragon) it's more used to fling enemies across the room. A lot of American movies tried incorporating wire work in action films in the late 90s and most of it was pretty poorly integrated. Here it works perfectly because the story demands it. Toby Wong is meant to have been biologically enhanced to be the perfect fighting machine, so it makes sense he should be able to take down 20-30 bad guys and not break a sweat. The fights are also really inventive in the same way that Jackie Chan's early work was. There's a particularly brilliant fight where Wong takes on a group of bad guys armed with electric stun batons and realises he can't fight back without getting shocked so he takes off his boots, puts them on his fists and carries on fighting. Genius. The final fight of the film is also stunningly choreographed with Wong going up against countless bad buys AND an even stronger, faster prototype fighter.

Of course, good fights are one thing but you need something more to sustain your interest for the two hour running time. While the story is pretty straight forward - it's more or less one long chase movie - the screenplay is nicely nuanced and there's some very quirky performances. The comedic interplay between Hardison and Dacascos is particularly a highlight and there's a real sense of friendship between the two. I particularly enjoyed the little in-joke where Wong is stopped by police and gives them his name as "Sammo Hung". At times, they maybe push the comedy element maybe a bit too far, like Wong doing a cringe-worthy karaoke performance(!) at one point, but I far prefer my action films to have fun than take themselves too seriously. The support cast is pretty great too. John Pyper-Ferguson is perfect as the increasingly crazed bounty hunter Vic Madison who is constantly getting his ass handed to him by Wong and there's a great, quirky performance by character actor Tracey Walter as his dim-witted sidekick 'Hedgehog'.

The late Brittany Murphy also has a very funny small part as the crazy owner of motel who briefly helps out Wong and Malik. She plays the role like her character is permanently on drugs, giggling constantly and trying to hit on Hardison at every opportunity. There's no explanation for why her character is so unhinged. It's just another of the film's weird offbeat elements. It's full of them. For instance, there's a whole running gag that 'Hedgehog' is always obsessively watching a TV show called 'Walter the Einstein Frog' about a frog who works in an ER! Who knows what the writer Scott Phillips was thinking when he wrote that bit. It's a shame that both he and Steve Wang have never really made anything like this film again - though they are still working together on the kids show Kamen Rider. I think Drive is probably the high water mark for Dacascos' career too. He and Hardison did reteam a year later on The Crow: Stairway to Heaven TV series (along with Ferguson) and in a film called Instinct to Kill, but both was nowhere near as good as this.

I usually end my reviews by trying to find one or two faults with a film but with Drive I found it really hard. The film is that good. The only quibble I have is that I always found it a bit mercenary that Wong is trying to sell the equipment inside him to an American businessman. That's tantmount to corporate espionage and quite an odd goal for a traditional action hero. I'd almost prefer it that he was just looking to get the bio-engine surgically removed and destroyed but... oh well. Nothing's perfect. But this film is as close as it gets. If you can get a copy of this director's cut I highly recommend it. The 90 minute cut keeps most of the fights but loses a lot of character moments. Drive is a magnificent martial arts film that no fan of the genre should be without. And if you've already seen it and are thirsty for more check out my review of another Koichi Sakamoto movie - Broken Fist.

GRADE: A