If David Lynch directed The Transporter

Rating: 7/10 (15 January 2013)

Ryan Gosling overtakes Jason Statham as the stoic man behind the wheel. Like his bald-headed rival he gets into trouble when distracted by a woman and is hurled into a plot involving gangsters and hit men. While Louis Leterrier's French thriller tried so hard to be Hollywood, Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn's LA-based thriller tries very hard to be European, and takes the viewer on a ride down a lost highway.
At the same time it also comes across as a secret remake of Walter Hill's The Driver. All of these films are very, very similar, but Drive is the best of them. It's difficult to comprehensively review the movie as it is very minimalistic and focuses more on atmosphere and the quiet moments in between dialogue rather than action and twists. It's a wonderful movie to look at though, and I do want to complain about how problematic the morals and values of the unnamed 'Driver' are, but if it is the intention to make him morally ambiguous then I guess it is successful. It doesn't make for a great character regardless of how smooth Gosling plays him.
The violence is harrowing and brutal, as it is in real life. Nicolas Winding Refn seems to understand that there is no action in real life, there is only violence, and it's brutal and ugly and not something any sane person wants to happen to them. In this respect it is far more grown-up than The Transporter but cannot be praised as being a 'better' film as it is still sold on style and visuals. The substance takes a back seat and the movie apologetically delivers what it wants without feeling the need to scream for attention. I have to respect it for that.