A dark, stylist and tense neo-noir film

Rating: 10/10 (12 February 2012)

Drive was seen as one of the best films of 2011, so much so that fans were angered and upset that the Academy Award ignored it. It is fast becoming a cult classic and oozes style in what is a very brutal thriller.
Driver/Kid (Ryan Gosling) is a young mechanic and part-time stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver for heists and bank robberies. He is a quiet man who lives alone, but he has a cool menace underneath. Driver soon befriends his neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her son Benicio (Kaden Leos). But when Irene's husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac) is released from prison, Driver ends up having to help the man with his protection debts and runs up against two powerful gangsters, Nico (Ron Perlman) and Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks).
Nicolas Winding Refn is certainly showing why he is a hot young talent as a director, creating a dark, constantly tense film, amplified by the dark visuals and the 80s like soundtrack. Winding Refn knew how to build up scenes and develop characters even with a lack dialogue. The action and crimes scenes were quick and well shot, particularly the day light car chase and the shooting in the model. Some of the violence was a little over the top, which made the film deserve it's 18 rating in the UK, but it did add to the brutal nature of the film. There was always a constant brooding feeling about Drive, with it at boiling point all the time.
The cast is great throughout. Gosling as already mention was a quiet character but felt like he can be really threatening when he did turn. There was a lot of mystery toward this character, we don't know his name let alone his past and Gosling brought that to live and making him seem like a character you do not want to mess with. Mulligan is of course a very talented actress and she shows it again here as she plays a regular, struggling lone mother and Brooks' character seem to have a lot more depth then just being a ruthless gangster, that he there is a real character and moral duality about him.
Winding Refn certainly does not make out that they there is any glamour in this life of crime, Driver lives a lonely, isolated live and even when he does get close to someone he still tries to put some distance between them and unwilling or unable to love. The main gangsters were still just thugs, they did not live the high life, they dress in unflattering clothes and do not have legions of followers as they have to be very hands on in their profession. The crimes themselves are quick and the driving was explained by the fact that Driver is a stunt driver.
Drive is a truly tense, stylised crime film that is filled with brutal violence yet still has a subtle feel about it. It really is a must see.