Drive had no heart, no character, no mercy, but it did provide a visual feast to offset the boredom.

Rating: Null/10 (22 September 2011)

Drive is the latest film by one of the prettiest directors out there – Nicolas Winding Refn. That's not a Queer thing to say, I just mean that he makes pretty pictures that go in your eyes and made your brain a little soft. The only arguably prettier director could be Zach Snyder, but he has managed to obscure his visual talent with offensively stupid stories.
Drive opens with a Transporter-style scene with our title character "Driver" – he don't need no stinkin' name – shuttling some crooks around town in their getaway car. We then get a sappy little tale of him saying one or two words to his next door neighbor, played by the child- like Carey Mulligan. I wanted to like An Education. I really wanted to like Never Let Me Go, but I don't get the hype. Whatever, she's in it, but like all the characters, she could really have been anybody. Manly man Ron Perlman showed up as a mob boss, Christina Hendricks' finer qualities showed up long enough to warrant a name on the poster but nobody cares. Driver drives, fights, stares and stares and stares and stares, bleeds a bit, and the movie ends.
I'd love to talk more about story, but there's not much to say. It's an overused plot about some guy getting in over his head, yadda yadda, pays the price or gets away despite the odds. Pointless dialog punctuated with long, long pauses on characters. It'd have an impact if there was anything to ruminate on during the silence, but it just turned in to a staring match between Ryan Gosling and the audience. Here's an example of the Memorable Quotes from IMDb:
Irene: "That's Benicio's father."
Driver: "Where is he?"
Irene: "In prison."
Driver: "Oh."
Inspiring! But really that's not the point. Here's why I'm giving this movie a better grade than it deserved: it was good film making. It was brutal, bloody, with great car chases and fight scenes. It became nearly grindhouse near the end with all the nasty deaths and ridiculous fights. I stayed for the entire credits and didn't see the usual host of visual effects houses. There are 9 visual effects folks in the credits. There are far more stunt people, art department members, and post sound crew. Refn can get what he needs from the camera and doesn't need to alter the end product with poor CGI decisions.
Drive had no heart, no character, no mercy, but it did provide a visual feast to offset the boredom.