REVIEW | Fox thriller goes straight off a cliff by creating preposterous scenario for cross-country road race
April 13, 2007
BY DOUG ELFMAN
Television Critic
It is utterly impossible to take "Drive" seriously. In the new Fox drama, a powerful covert organization kidnaps and kills people. And they do this, why? To force everyday Americans like you to enter an illegal cross-country road race.
You've got. To be kidding.
This nefarious racing group has kidnapped the wife of the show's main guy, Alex (Nathan Fillion). A shadowy figure sneaks a cell phone into Alex's house, calls him, then tells him to drive to Florida if he wants to see his wife again.
Once in Florida, Alex and 40 or 50 other regular Americans scramble to their beat-up vehicles to head to the first checkpoint. There will be a checkpoint each week. Whoever wins the race pockets $32 million -- many an episode from now.
So what "Drive" is telling us is this gigantic operation has been going on for who-knows-how-long, and the authorities, disgruntled employees and angry losers have never done anything to stop or stall it. Riiiight.
You can blame stupid "Lost" for this stupid show. Like "Lost," it's an action serial with a big cast of heroes who are strangers to each other, and dozens of others await in the background for their tall tales to unfold in later shows.
Here's the main problem. "Drive" takes place in the present day. Cars and trucks and motorcycles fly across roads and cause wrecks. Guns are involved. But apparently, no non-racers in this present day notice the wrecks, possible vehicular homicide, gunfire, etc.
Heaven forbid that Alex goes and tells the feds he knows who kidnapped his wife. For that matter, other racers have less at stake and keep on truckin' anyway, even though they could die or be killed.
It appears the contestants were merely picked at random -- without their knowledge and mostly against their will -- to, say, abandon their abusive husband and newborn baby to drive for cash.
At least "Lost" and "Heroes" give us a sci-fi excuse to forgive illogical stretches of the imagination. The format of those mysteries allows some viewers to shrug off unrealistic scenarios as products of the supernatural.
"Drive" should have taken that mystical page from "Lost," or borrowed the concept of the 1975 car thriller "Death Race 2000." That bad movie used a future-tense veil to convince viewers an insanity could exist someday -- that racers would kill each other with badass cars.
On the other hand, "Drive" is a clutter of standard TV acting, cardboard characters, zoomy edits of people racing slow Toyotas on the highway, while everyone argues at each other in car seats, or gets help from truckers who say:
"Mission accomplished, soldier. ... Thank you for your service to our country!"
If the show isn't canceled while it's in the middle of being aired, well, then, hopefully in a future episode everyone in the race will die.
BY DOUG ELFMAN
Television Critic
It is utterly impossible to take "Drive" seriously. In the new Fox drama, a powerful covert organization kidnaps and kills people. And they do this, why? To force everyday Americans like you to enter an illegal cross-country road race.
You've got. To be kidding.
This nefarious racing group has kidnapped the wife of the show's main guy, Alex (Nathan Fillion). A shadowy figure sneaks a cell phone into Alex's house, calls him, then tells him to drive to Florida if he wants to see his wife again.
Once in Florida, Alex and 40 or 50 other regular Americans scramble to their beat-up vehicles to head to the first checkpoint. There will be a checkpoint each week. Whoever wins the race pockets $32 million -- many an episode from now.
So what "Drive" is telling us is this gigantic operation has been going on for who-knows-how-long, and the authorities, disgruntled employees and angry losers have never done anything to stop or stall it. Riiiight.
You can blame stupid "Lost" for this stupid show. Like "Lost," it's an action serial with a big cast of heroes who are strangers to each other, and dozens of others await in the background for their tall tales to unfold in later shows.
Here's the main problem. "Drive" takes place in the present day. Cars and trucks and motorcycles fly across roads and cause wrecks. Guns are involved. But apparently, no non-racers in this present day notice the wrecks, possible vehicular homicide, gunfire, etc.
Heaven forbid that Alex goes and tells the feds he knows who kidnapped his wife. For that matter, other racers have less at stake and keep on truckin' anyway, even though they could die or be killed.
It appears the contestants were merely picked at random -- without their knowledge and mostly against their will -- to, say, abandon their abusive husband and newborn baby to drive for cash.
At least "Lost" and "Heroes" give us a sci-fi excuse to forgive illogical stretches of the imagination. The format of those mysteries allows some viewers to shrug off unrealistic scenarios as products of the supernatural.
"Drive" should have taken that mystical page from "Lost," or borrowed the concept of the 1975 car thriller "Death Race 2000." That bad movie used a future-tense veil to convince viewers an insanity could exist someday -- that racers would kill each other with badass cars.
On the other hand, "Drive" is a clutter of standard TV acting, cardboard characters, zoomy edits of people racing slow Toyotas on the highway, while everyone argues at each other in car seats, or gets help from truckers who say:
"Mission accomplished, soldier. ... Thank you for your service to our country!"
If the show isn't canceled while it's in the middle of being aired, well, then, hopefully in a future episode everyone in the race will die.
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