The best wheelman movie in the genre.

Rating: 10/10 (3 April 2019)

DRIVE is a white-knuckle, unbuckled thrill ride from the very first frame to the last. Automobile aficionados will savor DRIVE's cinematography, atmosphere and the way Refn's visual style accentuates the inherent strength/beauty of each car Gosling whips throughout the film.
DRIVE may have a dozen cameos and a star-studded cast, but it's Gosling who absolutely steals the show with his Gary Cooper stoicness and sparse dialogue. Refn's script is light on lines but heavy on action. It's amazing to see the way Gosling brings his nameless characters' personhood to the forefront of the screen--his most effective scenes in the movie are the sequences where Gosling says nothing while driving/fighting. The energy one sees emanating from Gosling's Driver is palpable and it permeates the entire film. Despite the constant threat and ominous tone enveloping Driver and his love-interest Irene, Gosling emits a cool-as-ice persona that really gives the movie's best moments an extra dimension. Interestingly, I don't think anyone could have portrayed Driver half as well as Gosling did, and it is easily Gosling's singular performance in this titular role that makes Drive an absolute must-watch.
My favorite part of the entire film is the very beginning: Driver(Gosling) on a job trying to deliver his clients to safety. The entire sequence must be 10-15 minutes long and it's shot in such a claustrophobic way that the viewer actually feels like they're in the car alongside Driver, if not feeling like Driver themselves. The authenticity of the stunt driving and the way Gosling reacts to everything he sees on the road creates one of Hollywood's all-time best chase/driving sequences on film.
I actually watched DRIVE first last night and then watched BABY DRIVER for the first time ever today. In almost every conceivable way, BABY DRIVER was a carbon copy and near identical clone to DRIVE, and not even half as good (despite BABY's massive success). DRIVE's OST of hypnotic Horrorwave/80s Synth sets the perfect tone for what transpires throughout the movie, where as BABY feels nothing short of strained and suffocated due to the overload of music in the background of the film -- most which have no real fit in the modern car scene. When I see a stuntman burning rubber in an 04 ZHP Sport with alcantera interior, the last kind of soundtrack I'm envisioning is Motown. Motown may suit the car scenes of the 50s-60s, but it sure as hell feels out of place in BABY and this alone is reason enough to kill that movie's atmosphere in every way possible. It's also a huge reason why DRIVE is a much better film.
I know what you're thinking: a movie about a guy driving sounds pretty boring. But DRIVE is anything but boring. It's a high octane, pulse pounding injection shot of NOS straight to the brain. 10/10 A+; DRIVE lives up to the hype and then some. I imagine I'll watch this movie at least a few dozen more times before I kick the bucket.
PS. Don't expect Gosling to eat his cereal here either