In 1997, DRIVE was released direct to video in the US, and in my opinion is one of the best martial arts movies of that decade. Director Steve Wang gave us one of the funnest, and most hard hitting action films of the decade.
DRIVE follows Toby, played by Mark Dacascos, a special agent from Hong Kong with a device installed in his chest that gives him superhuman strength and speed. Not wanting the device to fall into the wrong hands, he flees Hong Kong to San Francisco, all the while being pursed by hitmen after the device. Along the way he kidnaps an unemployed musician Malik, portrayed by Kadeem Hardison, to drive him to LA to have the device removed. I really cannot say enough about how good this film is, from the impeccable fight choreography from veteran POWER RANGERS fight choreographer and stunt man Koichi Sakamoto, to the incredible chemistry that Dacascos and Hardison share, this film is incredible. The fights, oh man the fights, especially at the time of its release, the level of skill in the fight choreography and the talent of these martial artists, you didn’t see that in anything outside of Hong Kong. Mark Dacascos had never been better than he is here, his raw fight talent matched with how endlessly charming he is. And that charm is matched with how funny Hardison is in his role as the comic relief sidekick. They truly work so well together, and it’s a shame they didn’t work together more. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention how incredible Brittany Murphy is in this film. She’s only in the film a little bit, helping our heroes when they stay at the dusty little motel she runs when they need to repair their car. Every time she is on screen she just steals the movie away, an incredible actress and she’s sorely missed. DRIVE even 20 years later, really can’t be beat, few films can match the pure enjoyment and the technical wizardry of the fights.
Drive is presented in UHD from 88 Films/MVD. Having recently rewatched my copy of the blu that MVD put out last year, I have to say that this UHD is only a minor upgrade in picture quality, just only a little bit of an upgrade in detail compared to the MVD blu.
The Audio on the other hand, that’s where this release shines. There are three audio options here, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0, and Dolby Atmos. That’s Atmos track really sings, and will really give your surround setup a work out, really impressed with how that track sounds.
All of the bonus features from the MVD blu have been ported over here, we have the cut down version that was released on video back in ‘97, a cast and director audio commentary, an archival making of, interviews, a pretty stacked package.
-Billy Jarrett