A stylish, deliberate film that will divide audiences.

Rating: 9/10 (20 February 2012)

Drive is the best film of 2011. I'd probably put it a touch above two polar-opposite types of films;The Descendants and Midnight in Paris(both great).
Nicolas Winding Refn has an eye and an ear for direction. This is easily the most stylish film since Michael Mann's Early Work, or William Friedkin's "To Live and Die in L.A.". This is a 'throwback' film. It's deliberate pacing and basic story-line will likely turn- off those in search of a new "Fast and Furious" entry, but for those in search of a film that was "cared for", a film that oozes perfection with nearly every frame, THIS IS IT!
The cinematography is awesome. Angles, lighting and colors that would make Kubrick proud.
And the music... my god the music... I'd pay 30 bucks to go see this at the local IMAX tonight if it were there.
The story is a rather basic, fairly-good-guy mixing with fairly-bad- people storyline. This is a lead character that we can root for, but the script is so bare that we hardly know him. That's part of the intrigue here. He's the "man with no name".. the driver.. that's it. THis is Michael Mann's "Thief" all over again, only better(omg did I just say that, OK fine Thief's equal then). It's a hard-edged, stylish juggernaut of a film.
It's not perfect. There are some issues with the opening scene(as great as it is), and the film could use a touch more dialog.
Ask yourself what kind of movie-goer you are before you watch this. Are you a "popcorn-movie-person" that likes the big-budget CGI stuff, or are you a film-buff or a person who really takes in the intricacies of direction and style.There's really no middle ground here - this is definitely an 'art' film.
It's also a terribly violent film. The kind of violent that only a European, Aussie, or Scandinavian director knows. I don't know why they do a better job of it, but they do. Blood looks real, knives are the preferred weapon, and realism that is often hard to watch. Perhaps it's that regional-background-edge, coupled with his eye and ear, that push this film into "elite" status. This film would fit in any of the last 4 decades and still be considered a masterpiece in any of them. There's a grit to this polished diamond too, and that is what makes it truly unique. It's like Von Trier, Villenueve, and Michael Mann had a Baby and you died and went to movie heaven.