The Driver
The Driver
TV-MA | 23 September 2014 (USA)
SEASON & EPISODES
  • 1
  • Reviews
    sebadee

    Life is tough for troubled muggle, Vince McKee (David Morrissey). No bed of roses at home and finding it tough making a living as a cabbie in Manchester's rain-drenched streets. His fares either puke on his seats then don't pay or they have no cash and steal his day's earnings. This all changes when Mickey (Ian Hart) - just out after a six year stretch inside - suggests Vince does some driving for his gangster boss, Horse (Colm Meaney). Things start to go belly up soon after as he realizes there's no way back from a life in crime.With so many tough acts to follow - Sherlock, The Fall, Broadchurch, Utopia, etc - The Driver really needs deliver something unexpected to help it stand out; this it roundly fails to do. It manages to be adequate in all domains: The dialogue, the plot, the direction, the camera-work, the performances, the action are all good though there's nothing that jumps off the screen. That said, there are two stand-out performances: Sacha Parkinson as Vince's daughter and Harish Patel as Vince's minicab boss.David Morrissey's character grows ever more annoying as he dithers between his lives at home and in crime. In a way, he's morally gray: He's unable to invest himself in normal family life and clearly not cut out to be a criminal. His big problem is he's just not that interesting, nor are his reactions to criminality very compelling. His best moment comes when he tries to recontact his estranged son who is living in a commune. We get a brief glimpse of fire amongst barely glowing embers.With a series called The Driver it's hard not to look for references to Nicolas Winding Refn's superb "Drive", but there are none. Although there is nothing much to remember about The Driver, the action sequences are well-handled and there are some nifty camera moves in Vince's car. The big question that this miniseries leaves you with is why oh why would a competent gangster trust the job of getaway driver to a civilian cab driver who's scared witless?

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    paul2001sw-1

    David Morrisey (over-)emotes his way through 'The Driver', the story of an ordinary man who gets caught up with organised crime. As you do. And the problem with this drama is that Morrisey's character is wildly under-motivated for his actions, yet acts as if he a victim of unavoidable circumstances. Does a law-abiding taxi driver who runs into an old mate just out of prison suddenly decide to become a criminal himself? Is it really likely that on his first job, fetching and carrying for a gang, he nearly gets stopped by the police? Or that he gets called out to his new work every time his wife is about to make nice with him? And what really is the chance that, at key moment in an armed robbery (which is also a police sting), he feels compelled to flee the scene to take the last chance he'll ever get to see his son again? In some ways, it should be an easy story to tell, there are many temptations which lead people to be drawn into things which prove worse than they'd expected. But the driver seems to get no pay-off, and only immediate pain, for his inexplicable choice. The result is an unenlightening morality tale, with the odd gripping moment but too much anguish and not enough sense.

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    Prismark10

    The driver starts with a thrilling car chase as Vince McKee (David Morrissey) evades the police in the streets of Manchester. You almost feel this could be akin to the film Drive.Vince life takes an unexpected turn as an old friend Colin (Ian Hart) released from prison gets him to accept an offer to drive for a criminal gang.Vince a taxi driver, sick with the life as a cabbie finds that he is an ordinary man who is in over his head by being a driver for the criminals. His life has taken a turn for the worse since his son joined some kind of cult and he and his wife have drifted apart.Gang leader, The Horse (Colm Meaney) is not a man who stands for nonsense, when a job which leads to a man being shoved in a hole and left for dead goes awry, Vince realises he wants his old life back but the police are also watching him.After a bright opening episode, you realise from the second episode that this three parter has a flimsy plot. Vince is not cut out to be a bad boy, his mistakes lands his friend Colin in a spot of bother and in the final episode the Police have got him and its a case of whether Vince will give the gang up.A disappointment when you realise that this could had been a good 90 minutes film. Meaney, Hart and Morrissey act their parts well, some of the car chase scenes are exciting, there is a lot of grittiness and the scenes where he confronts his son in the cult's home will make your heart cry for Vince but it needed a more solid script.

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    Heath Hansbro

    i really enjoy this show and i hope to see more of it it will be a sad day if they choose not to continue the series it has amazing potential and its full suspense/action IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED IT YOU NEED TO its a total different spin from the main character being a super villain crazy person from the walking dead to a amazing caring worried father/husband just trying his hardest to make their life better and getting mixed up with the wrong people to do so meanwhile trying to keep them all out of it and burring the horrible stuff behind him i give this show a 8/10 just try it and prey it keeps going and thrills us every episode <3333

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