George Tillman Jr.
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The movie borrows plenty from its betters, including Spaghetti Westerns (the climax occurs in a desert near Bakersfield), Walter Hill's "The Driver" and "Kill Bill" (one scene finds the hit man's blond babe fiancée firing off rounds while still wearing her slit-up-to-there wedding dress).
The nickname itself is a reference, to "The Driver," a cult pulp film of the '70s.
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
influenced Faster (2010)
Visuals Plot Characters
Their wedding, in an empty desert chapel, seems a nod to the similar scene that kicks off the ultimate in '70s-throwback revenge fantasies, Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" films.
“Faster” kicks off with a mighty grindhouse sweep, itching to raise some hell as caged animal Driver is unleashed from his cell, literally running away from prison to commence his “Kill Bill” odyssey of vengeful fury.
As soon as he's released from prison after a 10-year sentence for a bank robbery during which he was the getaway driver, he gets his hands on the gun and the muscle car a partner has stashed for him and begins a roaring rampage of revenge, Ã la The Bride in "Kill Bill".
But Tillman isn’t the kind of stylist needed to make this another Kill Bill or Crank; instead it’s assembly-line junk right down to its glaringly obvious twist ending.
Take "Kill Bill," remove all humor, wit, characterization, thematic development, style, subtlety, and originality and just about anything else that made that film at all entertaining.
It wants to be Kill Bill but doesn’t have enough material to be Kill Bill, and so much of the movie’s running time is occupied with what can only be described as filler.
While Tillman doesn't show the stylistic flair of Spike Lee, the movie embraces human complexity in a way reminiscent of his ground-breaking Do the Right Thing.
Similar to 1989’s “Do the Right Thing” or 2009’s “Fruitvale Station,” “The Hate U Give” is the kind of movie that comes along once every few years.
With all of that wrapped together, The Hate U Give could be remembered as this generation's Do The Right Thing.
From The Fault in Our Stars to The Hunger Games, girls have grown up inspired by the bravery of heroines fighting danger both ordinary and fantastical, through role models like the loving cancer patient Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) or overnight warrior Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence).
Stenberg (The Hunger Games, The Darkest Minds) never loses sight of how, self-possessed though Starr might be, she’s still just an insecure teenager.
The Pitch: An adaptation of Angie Thomas’ 2017 novel, The Hate U Give chronicles the troubled life of Starr Carter ( Amandla Stenberg , The Hunger Games).
That’s a whole lot of gospel truth to jam into a single film, but director Tillman Jr. ( Notorious , and producer on the underseen Roll Bounce ), working with the brilliant young actor Amandla Stenberg (Rue from The Hunger Games ), renders the plight of young, urban African-American kids and the (mostly) white “peace officers” who tend to shoot first and ask questions later, in starkly relatable terms.
Historically, Young Adult blockbuster successes have been famed for the unexpected darkness of their subject matter, whether it’s the dystopian ritual slaughter of The Hunger Games or the, um, dystopian ritual slaughter of The Maze Runner .
Stenberg, whose previous credits include other YA fare like “ The Hunger Games ” and “Darkest Minds,” carries the difficult part well, growing from a carefree teen to traumatized kid to a natural born leader before our eyes.
Trading Places (1983)
Directed by John Landis
influenced The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete (2013)
Characters
And the films Mister obsessively watches and re-watches to help him prepare for his future career as an actor, like Fargo and Trading Places , similarly feel newly exotic and strange when seen from the perspective of a young man who knows all the words and rhythms and cadences, even if the films seem to come from a much different, more ridiculous, and altogether more benevolent universe than his own.
Mister has made a study of actors in his short life, becoming a master at turning himself into Will Smith, or more tellingly, Eddie Murphy in “Trading Places.”
Mister, determined to be an actor, steals the show practicing audition dialogue from “Fargo” and, more pointedly, “Trading Places.”
Brooks, whose character memorizes lines from “Trading Places” and “Fargo,” has more to play and is a far better actor than young Mr. Dizon, and that imbalance works against the film.
"Notorious", thank goodness, is not a Hollywood remake of the 1946 Cary Grant-Ingrid Bergman Hitchcock classic.
Last year, when I heard about a film on the way called Notorious, I was concerned that there would be an "updating" of Alfred Hitchcock's film of the same name.
Fargo (1996)
Directed by Joel Coen
influenced The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete (2013)
Dialogue
And the films Mister obsessively watches and re-watches to help him prepare for his future career as an actor, like Fargo and Trading Places , similarly feel newly exotic and strange when seen from the perspective of a young man who knows all the words and rhythms and cadences, even if the films seem to come from a much different, more ridiculous, and altogether more benevolent universe than his own.
The imminently likable Brooks is a figure of tremendous sympathy, particularly once his pipe dream takes shape: A closet movie buff, Mister aspires to land a role in a Beverly Hills-set television, and even preps a monologue from “Fargo” when imagining his audition.
Mister is a charismatic kid, a showboater; he's even developed a personal method-acting regimen involving a monologue from Fargo, which he delivers with Stanislavskian zeal.
Mister, determined to be an actor, steals the show practicing audition dialogue from “Fargo” and, more pointedly, “Trading Places.”
Brooks, whose character memorizes lines from “Trading Places” and “Fargo,” has more to play and is a far better actor than young Mr. Dizon, and that imbalance works against the film.
(Mister’s audition monologue is Steve Buscemi’s parking-garage rant from Fargo. ) But the movie shows no such restraint, steering its preteen protagonists through a series of terrifying heartbreaks while populating its cast with more guest stars—Jordin Sparks!
The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
Directed by Josh Boone
influenced The Hate U Give (2018)
Characters Themes
From The Fault in Our Stars to The Hunger Games, girls have grown up inspired by the bravery of heroines fighting danger both ordinary and fantastical, through role models like the loving cancer patient Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) or overnight warrior Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence).
After something of a comeback with the serious blockbusters “The Fault in Our Stars” (2014) and “Paper Towns” (2015), the genre has gone in a somewhat lighter direction this past year with “Love, Simon” and Netflix’s star-making “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before.”
So many young adult adaptations fall short of expectations, but this one is up there with The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Fault in Our Stars .
Back in the past, though, Huston and Chaplin show hints of timeless charm, enlivening the material not unlike the way Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling almost sold the hokum of The Notebook .
Like “The Notebook,” the Sparks' film adaptation that remains the best of a bad lot, “The Longest Ride” has two parallel love stories.
This second romance, recalling the earlier Sparks weeper The Notebook, comes courtesy of Alan Alda’s lovable codger Ira, whom Luke and Sophia rescue after he crashes his car through a highway guardrail.
As in The Notebook and that one with James Marsden, The Longest Ride switches between a romance in the present and a parallel relationship in the past.
Spurred on by the success of 2004's The Notebook , the writings of Nicholas Sparks have spawned a string of drippy romances including Dear John , The Lucky One and Safe Haven , with George Tillman Jr’s film marking the tenth entry in the series.
Because author Nicholas Sparks ("The Best of Me," "The Notebook") loves hopping between past and present regardless of if it makes sense, the 128-minute "The Longest Ride" also features Sophia becoming pals with an ailing old man (Alan Alda).
If you ignore 8 Mile, the thinly veiled Eminem biopic-or-isn’t-it, and the TLC biopic CrazySexyCool, which was straight-to-TV, the most significant to date has been 2009’s mediocre Notorious, about the New York City legend Notorious B.I.G., which had a rather successful opening weekend before losing steam at the box office.
Even the male lead being a more famous actor’s son is classic Sparks adaptation stuff (see also: Scott Eastwood in The Longest Ride).
A few casting choices I will talk about are Alex Essoe ( Starry Eyes , Tales of Halloween ) as Wendy Torrence, Roger Dale Floyd ( The Painter , Kronos ) as young Danny Torrence, and Carl Lumbly ( A Cure for Wellness , Men of Honor ) as Dick Hallorann.
After something of a comeback with the serious blockbusters “The Fault in Our Stars” (2014) and “Paper Towns” (2015), the genre has gone in a somewhat lighter direction this past year with “Love, Simon” and Netflix’s star-making “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before.”
Driver is up there with Timothy Olyphant’s character in “ Hitman ” on the list of most conspicuous killers.
Laced with an indelibly chosen soundtrack, each song selection adding to the tone and emotion of each scene, and topped by bright, innovative cinematography by Michael Grady (2009's " Notorious ,") above-average for the genre, the picture is a hugely fun time, and then more than that.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)
Directed by Burr Steers
influenced by The Longest Ride (2015)
When Elizabeth meets Officer Wickham (Jack Huston, of “The Longest Ride” ) and learns of his bad history with Darcy, she thinks her opinions are justified—and that perhaps Wickham could become something more.
However, while you can find a thread between Lussier’s most recent films, the most unmistakable comparison to Drive Angry* seems to be last year’s vehicle for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, George Tillman Jr’s Faster.
Series newcomer Dwayne Johnson (2010's " Faster ") is disconcerting in his own way, so pumped up he looks like he could take out a small neighborhood block with one finger.
Historically, Young Adult blockbuster successes have been famed for the unexpected darkness of their subject matter, whether it’s the dystopian ritual slaughter of The Hunger Games or the, um, dystopian ritual slaughter of The Maze Runner .
It’s an exercise in synthetic attitude, and proof that Jason Statham, with his not-dissimilar Charles Bronson remake The Mechanic, has dislodged Johnson as the more reliable tough action star de nos jours.