Dark, hypnotic thriller

Rating: 8/10 (9 October 2016)

This is a film that pretty much screams "cult movie". It tells the story of a mechanic / movie stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver. Soon his quiet, ordered life is thrown into chaos when he is pitted against the mob to protect his neighbour and her young son.
This is a quiet sedate film, that ratchets up to full gear with sudden, shocking bursts of violence, accompanied by a pulsating electronic score. Ryan Gosling turns in an iconic performance as the mysterious unnamed Driver, although Carey Mulligan is kind of wasted in her role as the struggling young mother. The style of the film harms back to the neon drenched 1980s action films, but the story-line harks back even further, and can be seen as an updating and relocation of the classic Western with Ryan Gosling as the Clint Eastwood Man With No Name.
Some viewers may be put off by the slow pace of much of the film, and the graphic violence, but if you are willing to go along with it, it's a striking experience.