Story time.
Osama bin Laden was dead. Hope was beginning to blossom in the third world as revolution after revolution was sparked. A young woman by the name of Katy Perry had found her way into the spotlight, and auto-tuned pop was at the peak of its popularity. Planking was still relevant.
The year was 2011, and I was just seventeen.
I had begun seeing trailers everywhere for a little movie called Drive. I was young and foolish, and so I dismissed it as another poorly-written The Fast and the Furious knockoff. It looked the part – with snippets of explosive action punctuating the promo. Naturally, I didn’t go to see it when it premiered.
I wish I had.
It wasn’t until the movie had finished its stint in theaters that I started to hear things. “Drive was really good.” “Drive was amazing, you have to see it.” “Ryan Gosling is dreamy.”
So I watched it. And I was blown away. Because Drive was not a driving movie. There was barely any driving in it. It was a noir piece, and a fantastic one at that. The trailers had lied to me – the movie they had shown could have been a completely one from the film I saw. My expectations were based on my first impression, and they shouldn’t have been. Because while they were reasonable expectations, they were dead wrong, and I missed out on seeing what is now one of my all-time favorites while it was still in the theaters.
Can you tell this isn’t really about the movie yet?
I guess I’m just nervous. This is my first blog, and I (not unlike Drive) don’t really know how to to market myself. So don’t skip out on this blog because of first impressions. I’m not promising to blow you away. I’m not promising anything. But you should stick around. I might surprise you.
Or, you know, not.
Movies! 