Drive

Drive

A-Pix Entertainment
Lenght: 99 minutes
English w/ Spanish subtitles
Score: 4 stars out of 5
Reviewed by: Assasin Zero

Rated R for language, strong violence and adult situations

What�s it all about?: Well, you see, we have this guy. Toby Wong (Mark Dacascos).
Arriving to America as a stowaway in a boat from Hong Kong, all he wants is to reach a
certain technological company that will pay him 5 million dollars for an implant that he has
right next to his heart. No, not a pacemaker; it�s this nifty bio-engineered device that gives
the dude super strength, allowing him to be the martial arts badass that he is. So anyway,
in typical movie fashion, he arrives in America where a welcoming committee sent by the
Leung Corporation, a rival technological company that wants the implant for themselves,
is ready to make Toby�s life a living hell. A kick ass fight filled with stunts and martial arts
ensues as Toby narrowly escapes by going overboard and swimming to safety; making
good ol Vic Madison (John Pyper-Ferguson), the head of the team trying to capture our
hero, very, very mad. Fast forward to a rundown bar somewhere in California. Toby
somehow made it there and is happily sipping on a beer while trying to ignore his drinking
partner, a Bob Marley wannabe named Malik (Kadeem Hardison), when Madison enters
the scene with a new team of bad guys. Our hero kicks his ass of course, but then Madison
takes Malik as a hostage. Toby is about to make his move when a group of police officers
storm the bar and in a strange turn of events, our hero Toby becomes a wanted kidnapper.
Now, he must try to reach Los Angeles, while dodging police officers and Madison�s elite
team of assassins, and dealing with his unlikely partner and for the moment hostage,
Malik. Are 5 million bucks worth all this? Watch the movie to find out.

What did I thought about it?: About a week ago in USA (cable channel), I saw the ending
of this kick ass movie. It was the climatic fight between this Japanese-looking guy and a
super strong dude with an attitude. The fight raged on with incredible stunts worthy of Jet
Li�s Fist of Legend (in my humble opinion, his best movie). Punches. Kicks. Blocks.
Blood. A well choreographed dance of death. It was incredible. When it all ended and the
credits started rolling, I knew I had to see that movie. A quick browse through my TV
Guide revealed that it was an unknown, direct to video release, called Drive. Sayonara Jet
Li. Aloha Jackie Chan. Here�s Hollywood�s newest (and sadly under rated) action hero,
Mark Dacascos.

As soon as I popped this movie into my VCR, I knew I was in for something special. A bad
guy with long hair and lots of attitude (Pyper-Ferguson) leading a team of corporate
assassins, tried to catch a stowaway in a Hong Kong boat. They easily surround the guy
and it looks like everything is back to normal when the fists start flying. The assassins
can�t kill the guy, so they must try to hit his legs or somehow disable him. What ensues is
a well choreographed fight where our hero �kung fus� his way out of this hairy situation
and gives the bad guys a run for their money. When he went overboard, always cool,
swinging around with lots of style, I knew I was in for an 1 hour and 39 minutes of pure
martial arts entertainment. I am glad to say this movie delivered all that and more.

Now, before we go on, a few words regarding the cast of characters that populate this
awesome movie. Mark Dacascos is Toby Wong. Martial arts bad ass and our so called
�hero�, he�s on his way to Los Angeles, where he�ll get 5 million dollars for the implant he
has in his heart. So, he wants the 5 millions bucks for his 5 year old girl, who�s sick with
an incurable disease and in need of an organ transplant, the only thing that can save her
life? No. Now, now, I bet he wants the 5 million dollars to help his brother, who screwed
up a job and owes exactly that amount to his boss, right? No. Lets see....does he want to
donate the money to an orphanage? Nope. The five million will save some Hong Kong
village from corporate villains who want to demolish it and built a mall, right? Hell no!
Our hero wants the dough for himself. Yeah, you heard right. No noble side story. He just
wants the 5 million bucks, simple. Now joining him in his �noble� quest is Malik (Kadeem
Hardison). If you have seen Rush Hour, then more or less you know the formula. Malik is
for Toby what Chris Tucker is for Jackie Chan. A guy with no job, who recently lost his
house and his wife, he�s sitting in a bar drowning his sorrows when Toby shows up. In a
second, his life takes a 360 degree turn for the worst. Now he�s a hostage and after
discovering Toby�s �noble� purposes (and being offered half of the money), he becomes
his unlikely ally and partner, providing some much needed comic relief. The rest of the
cast is equally impressive. We have our cowboy wannabe of a bad guy, Vic Madison
(Pyper-Ferguson). The dude is an assassin and if he gets the chance to kill, he�ll be there.
He also provides a comic relief for the �bad guys�, just like Malik does for the so called
�good guys�. And then there is Deliverance (Brittany Murphy). Running a sorry excuse
for a motel, this girl�s performance is pure gold. I laughed a lot seeing this eternally horny
girl�s antics. As soon as she sees our two main characters, she knows she wants to have a
lil �fun� with them. During her nearly 35 minutes of screen time, she delivers a large dose
of humor and sexual innuendo to our already humor-packed adventure. One of the best
and most interesting secondary characters I�ve seen in ages.

Now, what else is there to discuss about this movie. Oh yeah, guess you want to hear a
little more about the martial arts and the stunts. Well, lets just say Mark Dacascos can kick
Jet Li�s ass any day. Don�t get me wrong, I love Jet Li, he�s one of my favorite martial
artists (even if The One was crap and shows us that the guy needs to go back to his Hong
Kong roots and kiss Hollywood good bye before his awesome career takes a turn for the
worst like it has already done), but Mark Dacascos performance was pure genius. Full of
attitude, he delivers one adrenaline packed performance after another. Not only he uses his
fists, but if the bad guys have guns, clubs and even high voltage tazers, you bet he�ll use
them. The fights are just awesome and have to be seen to be believed. Fresh in my
memory is the fight in the motel where he grabs one of the tazers and kicks this generic
bad guy's butt, hitting him a couple of times with the tazer before kicking him into a
metallic fence where he fries to death. It is awesome and some of the special effects are
worthy of high budgeted Hollywood films. The climatic final fight between Toby and the
ultimate warrior of the Leung Corporation is truly breathtaking and full of original ideas.
The supporting cast also deserves some credit for making the fights as believable as
possible. You won�t see any cheap shots where you can clearly see the actor�s kick
passing a mile or two away from the generic bad guy�s face as he suddenly leap backwards
and plays dead. Nah. If you didn�t knew better, you can swear he�s really kicking their
asses. Koichi Sahamoto and Alpha Stunts deserve some credit for choreographing the
awesome stunts and overly original fights.

By the way, a small word of advise to those of you that will be watching the US release of
this movie. It is heavily edited. Yep, you heard right. The infamous �Robbie Little� cut; it
has over 12 minutes of deleted scenes. In some places (like the fight in the bar at the
beginning and the climatic final fight), more noticeable than others; it�s truly a pity that
they gave us this butchered version of such an awesome film. Thanks Robbie!

All in all, only the generic plot, an excuse for lots of flying fists and the unforgivable 12
minute cut, prevents this movie from getting a perfect score. However, if you have seen all
that Jet Li and Jackie Chan have to offer and are craving for something new, Mark
Dacascos and Kadeem Hardison will deliver a performance that you will never forget.
Rush Hour, move over, cause Drive is coming to town and if you don�t get out of the
way, then �put your head between your knees and get ready to kiss your ass good bye�
(quote Madison nevermore). Highly recommended.