Drive is one of the best character-driven movies of the 2010s.

Rating: 9/10 (17 April 2016)

Nicolas Winding Refn's 2011 cult-classic Drive has become a modern classic for filmgoers and art-house cinema goers as well. One of the defining movies from Indiewood, Drive has been subject to some debate whether or not it is the grand film many of its defenders make it out to be; and I can honestly say it is what the fans make it out to be.
Drive is visually driven (no pun intended) by Ryan Gosling's titular nameless character 'The Driver' and the way the world of Los Angeles has created this person who moonlights as a getaway driver at night. He's bored of this Hollywood stunt-driving life he leads and he wants to become something more than his lowlife way of living has made him out to be. He want's to be part of a family and not be a lifeless shadow of a man.
Though the film may be slow for some people, it is a neo-noir film not meant for the faint- hearted and is a subtext driven film. The story is not so literal as one might expect from a film; the nuances are the things that make the film stand out from other films of its ilk. Can criminals become something better than they realise? Is there any escaping the life they've become trapped in?
Drive is a very well directed film, though some scenes of the film may be disturbing to those even accustomed to heavily gritty films; there's a lot of violence in this film and when it's there, it's not at the behest of action film lovers, but that of the story and the unleashing of something unsettling and impersonal.
Do not expect a rosie-painted action film where there's no consequences from what's just happened; this is a real story where moments that would be spectacular become something rather important to the characters. It's a thinking-man's film and a neo-noir for the ages; it's bigger than you realised.