More like 'Dirge'

Rating: 3/10 (20 October 2011)

This movie starts out superbly. The opening 10 minutes grabbed me with gorgeous, urban cinematography and a very tense, superbly executed chase scene that emphasizes how to avoid being chased on the road. We were in overdrive. The night shots were superbly framed and the colors fitting. It's an intelligent and well thought-out scene and I had high hopes for this movie.
From there, the story stutters into neutral. Gosling spends most of the time seemingly on methadone; staring at people or giving monosyllabic answers after 'contemplating' for what seems like minutes. Occasionally we get into second or third gear, but using impossible driving techniques (like a car changing up whilst racing in reverse) or improbable violent scenes where people's bodies and heads become unrealistically soft and squash-able.
It seems as though the movie is directed at disturbed, violent and inarticulate young men who think they can drive well (to be honest don't we all think that?), and who see these character traits as possibly being attractive to the right woman. This may be true although I doubt they would ever come into contact with the right woman if they acted like this, because you don't find many women in the State Penitentiary.