Pretentious & Painfully Boring

Rating: 3/10 (11 October 2011)

I'd like to think that I have an open mind when it comes to films, and usually I can appreciate a movie even if I don't "like" it, being aware that my own personal preference might prevent me from liking an otherwise 'good' movie. I like the classics (Citizen Kane, Casablanca, etc) and I can even like the occasional modern popcorn flick from time to time (yes, including Michael Bay... from time to time).
My point is, despite this, I thought 'Drive' was a miserable experience. I hadn't seen any previews for it, so I had absolutely no idea what to expect going in other than reviews saying it was good.
Ultimately what I got was a pretentious, wanna-be indy film that's trying to be an action film (or perhaps a 'statement' on action films), that was just flat-out boring.
Ryan Gosling's unnamed protagonist is completely blank. I understand there are people in the world like this, but he was a totally uninteresting character who did little but stare at people and smirk.
There was legitimate drama, quality acting, and the little action we got was fantastic, but there were such long stretches of almost-literally nothing, it made the experience absolutely painful (and this coming from a guy who loved Darren Aronofsky's "The Fountain"!). While everyone is entitled to their opinion, I truly don't understand how anyone could have honestly liked this movie, unless they were having sleeping problems prior to watching it.
The only consistently good thing about this movie was the soundtrack, which I absolutely loved. I would listen to it in my car over and over, but I never want to see 'Drive' again.