The years most successful failure

Rating: 7/10 (1 November 2011)

There were some good scenes but overall I think this movie could be entitled the years most successful failure.
I can actually see Nicolas Winding Refn (who has also directed "Bronson", which was great) sitting in the editing room with the editor and thinking: "God damn, how was I so blind, how could I not see the flaws in the script, how could I make such simple mistakes. Naah, okay gotta make something out of it. Lets put a lot of cool music!"
What disturbed me the most: *The Drivers character was dull and lifeless. Even stoic people are real people, but in the movie, I just saw a sketch. *In some places, the music was a bit off or too dominative *I didn't see any real feelings between the Driver and Irene. Romance was made only with romantic music and the implication that usually people in that sort of situation develop a romance. But it wasn't in the actors eyes. *The movie didn't have a culmination. Don't get me wrong, I hate the Hollywood Aristotle 3-act model, but a story's got to have a peak. "The Driver" just started rolling, and rolled smoothly till the end. If the culmination was meant to be an inner one, it wasn't played out properly.
It seemed Refn was repeating himself and relied too much on the old tricks - stylishness, brutality and cool music.
For me, a mediocre movie - 6.5/10