Never conforms to its genre, instead bending it to fit its stoic, tender yet explosively violent story.

Rating: 7/10 (27 February 2018)

Nicolas Winding Refn's calmly tender yet explosively violent crime thriller never conforms to its genre, instead self-assuredly bending it to fit its stoic story while perhaps somewhat stubbornly maintaining its relatively laid-back pace and less-is-more mentality, and it's undoubtedly a much more memorably nuanced affair because of it. While The Driver himself may seem somewhat of a blank slate, he's actually an incredibly deep character who's lack of overt outward expression is matched by an interior complexity rarely seen in pictures of this kind (if any) and it's his unspoken connection to the other characters that roots him deep within his newfound reality, while establishing his longing to escape the criminal world he has unwillingly come to call his home. His brutality is presented in an honestly visceral way that refreshingly shows the consequences of such actions and never condones them even if they ultimately save the people that the protagonist cares the most deeply about. 7/10