Had potential, but let down by poor storyline, dialogue, direction and leading performances.

Rating: 4/10 (2 April 2012)

Very slight spoiler - apart from the crummy review - but the film itself is it's own biggest spoiler.
"Drive" seems to have been marketed as a modern take on the dry, sometimes semi-documentary style crime/road action centered movies of the seventies, so you could be excused for thinking the quality is going to match "Bullitt", "The Driver" or even (God help me for making the comparison) The French Connection duo.
If so, be prepared to be disappointed - very, very disappointed.
Decent performances by the supporting cast: Bryan Cranston (Hal from Malcolm in the Middle) as the garage owner, Albert Brooks (pitches his role as a local hood nicely) Oscar Isaac (did a great job with a small part as Mulligan's squeeze, a small time crook trying to go straight), Christina Hendrickson (a nice turn in her few minutes as the devious moll), Mr Shouty Ron Pearlman (but less shouty than usual) couldn't save this flick.
However, Gosling (Driver) and Mulligan (Blond Next Door With Kid) don't come out of this looking good, both seem very weak and uncertain as to what was expected of their roles and delivery, but as they have put in much better performances elsewhere I suspect this is the director's doing.
You know, just staring a lot doesn't make automatically make you come across like Eastwood as the Man with No Name - you have to have the charisma to back it up, whether that comes from great character build through storyline and scripting or sheer force of personality. No sign of either of those here unfortunately. The storyline was very weak, and while other films have come good with worse, this isn't one of them, as it has neither the taut direction, the entertaining dialogue or the big personality leads to carry it off.
Some of the action scenes are fairly well done though. The short, action driving sequences are OK but given the movie is called "Drive" you feel a bit robbed by the very few minutes of these on offer. Sadly the few good bits just highlight the general weakness and make for a disappointing experience.
I don't know if this makes sense, but I have the strange feeling I've enjoyed much worse films than this one much more. I started out giving it a 6, but the more I think this one over, the less I appreciate it. In fact I recall fast forwarding about two thirds of the way in, and I really hate having to do that. If this was a free to air movie on TV I would have switched of within 20 mins. This is one of those rare films I recommend people NOT to watch, which I hardly ever do, as even real stinkers usually have something to make you keep watching 'till the end. A poor 4.