Awesome film, and is actually more influenced by Japanese films then Hollywood action

Rating: 9/10 (20 March 2012)

This is one of the better films that I've seen in a while. It took me a while to figure this out, but in my opinion it's actually quite influenced by Japanese culture. (THIS MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS)
You might wonder how I can believe that. A Danish director (Nicholas Winding Refn) makes a low budget indie film about a Hollywood stunt driver (Ryan Gosling)in LA.
Well first of all, the music: The entire soundtrack is mainly electronic based music and steams of the 80's music scene. This isn't all that different from most of the animé films I've seen, e.g. The Ghost in The Shell and Akira.
Secondly the main character. Goslings character is a nameless driver that rarely speaks and is the best at almost anything he does. He's a great driver, smarter than all the other characters and also overpowers them physically. In addition to these nietzschean features he's also a moral compass in comparison to the other characters, and doesn't necessarily put his own objectives primarily. A nameless stranger, smarter, stronger and basically good. This is the typical main character in many of Akira Kurosawas films (Compare him with "The Samuraj" in Yojimbo) *SPOILER* Goslings change in facial expression in the ultra violent elevator scene reeks classic animé.
And thirdly, the style and the noire look: The low pace, it's angels, lighting and the dark city feel with a lot of focus on the skyscrapers (especially in the first 15 minutes of the film and the title sequence) is also very similar to many dystopian animé films.
So when I've read a lot of reviews on Drive, which are all basically positive, it bothered me a bit when critics said that it's was an homage to the 80's and classical get away films. In my opinion this is just as much an homage to Japanese films and animé.
These are just a few examples. I could also discuss the other characters and stereotypes, the acting, the (lack of) dialog, the violence etc, but I hope that you get the idea. In either way, this is a great film that I hope will go down in history.