Drive lacks the spark that made Walter Hill’s The Driver so explosive. Everything from Pulp Fiction to Sin City finds itself parodied here. Other cinematic references abound in Nicolas Winding Refn’s loose adaptation of James Sallis’ novel. The plot has little to offer with Ryan Gosling playing a nameless mechanic, a driver who does Hollywood stunt work by day and acts as a getaway specialist (for armed robbers) by night. When he becomes embroiled in a robbery which goes sideways, money belonging to some nasty people ends up in his possession. Suffice to say, the climax can only lead to one inevitable point, making the story quite a fruitless one and that’s putting it mildly.

In simple terms, Drive is a movie of two halves – the first part being more memorable than the second. The impressive, opening visuals reminded me of “white rice on black velvet,” to quote Edward R. Murrow. Cameraman Newton Thomas Sigel uses the city at night as a poetic backdrop to the flimsy story. The script by Hossein Amini fails to make time for its characters in the latter section, while Gosling is quietly hypnotic in the beginning only to rely on too many pauses as the film grinds to a conclusion.

Another one who makes a mild splash is Bernie Rose, played by Albert Brooks. He seems stuck in a two-dimensional part, trying to evoke memories of Alec Baldwin’s Las Vegas heavy in The Cooler (2003), a far superior effort.

Quite simply, there’s no originality in Drive. The less than ambitious score by Cliff Martinez (Narc) starts off with an electronically muted drum beat taken from John Williams and his work on Munich (2005). Otherwise, Martinez’s synthesizer leanings hardly evolve beyond the initial idea.

Violence appears to be handled with some care. Most of it happens off-screen or in a split second – the sound effects providing realistic support. Also, Matthew Newman’s editing favours a shock value response over a more character-driven approach. Because the violent acts aren’t motivated, they appear out-of-place in what is a rather subdued plot.

All in all, Drive feels so front-loaded with promise that the disappointingly average second half looks like out-takes from another film. The verdict? There may be no Academy Awards in store for this one.

(Released by Film District and rated “R” for strong brutal bloody violence, language and some nudity.)