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Drive: Special Collector's Edition – MVD Rewind Collection (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1997
Director: Steve Wang
Writer: Scott Phillips
Cast: Mark Dacascos, Kadeem Hardison, John Pyper-Ferguson, Brittany Murphy, Tracey Walter, James Shigeta, Masaya Katô

Release Date: May 11th, 2021
Approximate Running Times: 117 Minutes 14 Seconds (Extended Director’s Cut), 99 Minutes 46 Seconds (Theatrical Cut)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Extended Director’s Cut), 1.78:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Theatrical Cut)
Rating: R
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 English, LPCM Stereo English (Extended Director’s Cut), LPCM Stereo English (Theatrical Cut)
Subtitles: English for Cantonese dialog (Extended Director’s Cut), English SDH (Theatrical Cut)
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $39.95

"Toby Wong (Mark Dacascos, John Wick 3: Parabellum) is on a martial arts mission impossible. With a bio-energy module placed on his chest, Toby's awesome martial arts skills are tuned to a super-human level. The only problem is that Toby doesn't want the power.

Now, only an army can stop him, and that's just what's hunting him down. As he makes his escape from an ammo-packing posse of hitmen, Toby needs a hostage, Malik (Kadeem Hardison, White Men Can't Jump) to drive him to freedom in Los Angeles." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5 (Extended Director’s Cut), 2.75/5 (Theatrical Cut)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Extended Director’s Cut in 2.35:1 aspect ratio from a brand new 4K HD scan of the original cameral negative".

Info about the theatrical cut, "'Drive: Theatrical Version' Has been included on this disc as supplemental material. It was sourced from an older, undated master and as a result, the image is not in the correct aspect ratio and may contain coloring issues, grain, damage, and occasional pixelation."

Drive comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 44.3 GB

Feature: 24.6 GB (Extended Director’s Cut), 16.7 GB (Theatrical Cut)

The extended director’s cut gets a solid transfer, colors look great, black levels and image clarity look strong throughout.

Included as an extra for this release is the theatrical cut and it comes from a source that pales in every way when compared to extended director’s cut’s transfer. Also, the theatrical cut is in a cropped aspect ratio.

Audio: 4/5 (Extended Director’s Cut), 3.5/5 (Theatrical Cut)

The extended director’s cut comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English and a LPCM stereo mix in English. Both audio mixes sound great, dialog comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced and range wise action sequences sound robust. Included with The extended director’s cut subtitles for Cantonese dialog that's spoken in the opening sequence. Though the theatrical cut comes with English SDH subtitles, it's unfortunate that The extended director’s cut does not come with English SDH subtitles.

The theatrical cut comes with one audio option, a LPCM stereo mix in English and included with the theatrical cut are removable English SDH subtitles. The audio sounds clear and balanced throughout. It should-be noted that the theatrical cut features alternate music cues than the extended director’s cut.

Extras:

Extras for this release include reversible cover art, a limited edition slipcover, a collectable mini poster, a trailer for Drive (1 minute 38 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), six deleted scenes (8 minutes 44 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival making of documentary titled The Force Behind The Storm (47 minutes 42 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), archival interviews with actors Mark Dacascos and Kadeem Hardison, director Steve Wang, second unit director Wyatt Weed, and stunt coordinator Koichi Sakamoto (24 minutes 38 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles) and an audio commentary with Steve Wang, Koichi Sakamoto, Mark Dacascos and Kadeem Hardison, and five trailers for other films released by MVD Rewind Collection.

Summary:

Honestly, going into the Drive, I was not sure what to expect. Though the premise has all the elements one would expect from an action film being made in the 1990’s, the result was actually a film that far exceeded expectations by maximizing the sum of its parts.

Also, though there have been American-made martial arts films, the best martial arts films made in America feature Hong Kong action stars making their English-language film debut. With the bulk of the American-made martial arts films lacking the dynamic action set pieces that have become synonymous with Hong Kong martial arts films.

There is no denying that the action set pieces are the main focal point of Drive. Its heart and soul are its two leads; Mark Dacascos (Crying Freeman) in the role of Toby Wong, a special agent from Hong Kong who is on the run from a hit squad, and Kadeem Hardison (Def by Temptation) in the role of Malik Brody, a reluctant hostage who becomes Toby's righthand man. Their onscreen chemistry is off the charts.

From a production standpoint, Drive does a great job exploiting its absurd premise, and the narrative does a good job balancing action set pieces and humorous interactions with its two leads. Ultimately, Drive is a wall-to-wall action extravaganza that martial arts fans should thoroughly enjoy.

Drive gets a first-rate release from MVD Rewind Collection, who continue to give underrated films solid releases, recommended.