An Instant Classic... for some.

Rating: Null/10 (20 September 2011)

To me, this is the best movie of 2011 so far. Ryan Gosling takes his career to a new level with this performance.
No, I am not employed in some conspiracy to overate this film. I've read how divided these reviews are, and had to join the site to put in my two cents.
I will admit, however, that Drive is filmed in a style that is slower paced and not for everyone. I would venture to say the majority of people over 30 will probably love it while the younger generation--those accustomed to quick screen shots that never last over two seconds throughout the film--will hate it.
It also does not offer the mindless fantasy/escape that some like to have for the price of a movie ticket. This isn't Crank (2006). A lot of realism here. If you liked The Godfather (1972), or Steve McQueen in The Sand Pebbles (1966), or any other number of older, slower paced, emotional yarns with occasional extreme violence, you will enjoy this film.
If you go to the theater to watch titles like 300 (2006), or even Armageddon (1998), and think those are great movies, then don't go see this film. If you have ADHD, don't buy a ticket either.
Okay, that was rather harsh, but here is what this film offers:
Using a slower pace, the director managers to build some of the scenes in this movie up so well, my heart was pounding. No other film this year has done that.
The beginning of the movie establishes just how risky the life of crime is, and how quickly things can turn bad during a robbery.
Later in the film, when two robbers walk into a pawn shop to hold it up, the tension is unbelievable as you sit in the car with the main protagonist, Driver, and experience it from his point of view. Because of good character build up the film spends so much time doing, in this scene you want them to make it out, and you are afraid for them.
Then there is that moment in the elevator other reviewers have mentioned. Both men know one of them isn't going to leave that small room alive. The tension was enormous. Think Tom Cruise shutting the door on his daughter, locking himself in the basement alone with the survivalist whacko in War of the Worlds (2005). But this is even better, because that other guy is an armed mafia hit-man, and no outcome is certain in any of the action scenes in this film.
The love interest, Irene, is torn between her desire for a man who genuinely cares about her and her son, and protects them, yet scares her with his cold- blooded aggression and mysterious past. And in the end it is her unintentional baggage that brings his world crashing down much like Mathilda did to Leon in The Professional (1994). People die, and things can never be the same for the Driver, who ends the film as he begins it by doing what he does best: Driving.
One chase scene even offers up another homage to Bullitt (1968), with the Mustang versus the Chrysler again.
I plan to see this film at least twice more. It is a must see for a true movie aficionado. A September surprise!!