Drive (2011)

 

An unnamed Driver works as a mechanic, a stunt double, a stunt driver, and a criminal-for-hire getaway car driver in Los Angeles, California. His jobs are all managed by auto shop owner Shannon, who persuades Jewish mobster Bernie Rose and his half-Italian partner Nino 'Izzy' Paolozzi to purchase a car for the Driver to race. The Driver meets his new neighbor, Irene, and grows close to her and her young son, Benicio. Their relationship is interrupted when Irene's husband, Standard Gabriel, arrives after his release from prison. Standard owes protection money from his time in prison and is assaulted by Albanian gangster Chris Cook, who demands that Standard rob a pawn shop for $40,000 to pay off the debt. Cook forces Benicio to keep a bullet as a symbol that he and his mother are in danger. Learning this, the Driver offers to act as the getaway driver for the pawn shop robbery.

While the Driver is waiting outside the pawn shop with Cook's accomplice, Blanche, the store owner kills Standard. The Driver and Blanche are then pursued by another car. The Driver hides with Blanche in a motel where he learns that the pawn shop owner claims Standard was the sole perpetrator and no money was stolen. He threatens Blanche when she lies about being oblivious to the second car. She admits that the bag contains $1 million, and she and Cook planned to re-steal the money for themselves using the car that chased them. While Blanche is in the restroom, she is killed with a shotgun by one of Cook's henchmen. The Driver fatally stabs the gunman before killing another one with the shotgun.

At the auto shop, Shannon offers to hide the money, but the Driver declines. He tracks down Cook to a strip club, threatens to kill him, and force-feeds him the bullet that he had given to Benicio earlier. Cook reveals that Nino was behind the robbery. The Driver calls him, and Nino dismisses his offer of the money, instead sending a hitman to the Driver and Irene's apartment building. The Driver tells an angry Irene about his involvement with her husband's death. When the pair enter an elevator, the Driver notices the hitman, he kisses Irene and then brutally stomps the hitman to death, horrifying Irene. Knowing that someone may have leaked the Driver's whereabouts for Nino to know his address, the Driver confronts Shannon, who reveals that he also unwittingly mentioned Irene. Driver tells Shannon to flee.

At his pizzeria, Nino reveals to Bernie that a low-level Philadelphia mobster from the Italian "East Coast mob" stashed the money at the pawn shop with plans to use the money to set up a new operation. Since anyone tied to the robbery could lead the East Coast Italian Mafia to them, they need to kill everyone involved. He convinces Bernie to follow his plan. Bernie murders Cook, as he is the sole witness to their agreement. After Shannon refuses to divulge the whereabouts of the Driver at the auto shop, Bernie slashes his forearm with a straight razor, killing him.

Enraged at finding Shannon's corpse at the auto shop, the Driver disguises himself with a rubber stuntman's mask, follows Nino from the pizzeria to the Pacific Coast Highway and rams his car onto a beach. The Driver chases Nino towards the ocean and drowns him. He calls Irene and tells her that he will not return, also letting her know that she and Benicio were the best part of his life. The Driver meets Bernie, who promises that Irene will be safe in exchange for the money. Upon giving him the money, Bernie stabs him in the stomach before the Driver pulls out his own knife and stabs Bernie to death. The Driver manages to escape, while Bernie's corpse lies in the parking lot next to the cash. Irene knocks on the Driver's apartment door and walks away when no one answers. Albeit wounded, the Driver drives into the night.