A must see. Subdued masterpiece of violence.

Rating: 9/10 (3 July 2012)

I think most directors are afraid of losing an audience's attention, as "sound-bite" as the world has become. I award bravery married to timing, tone and that rare commodity, allowing actors faces to nuance a role. This is a paced movie that stays slow and builds at the same time. Something more common in a horror film. Tension. Kudos to director Nicolas Refn.
Drive is a surprise. I didn't realize Ryan Gosling acted this well. Perfectly cast because of his look of innocent boyishness, not too handsome but nice to look at, he could be anybody you've known who's a pleasant guy.
In this movie he is, you assume, an introverted and lonely man, completely wedded to all things cars. He is a master craftsman of driving, be it stunts or race tracks, chases or get aways.
We don't really know what is going on inside him as we watch his character respond to a very odd set of circumstances put before him. He steps outside of his comfort zone and he falls for a neighbor, Carey Mulligan, whose husband is in prison. She has a son he also adores. But it is restrained. They barely speak. They look at each other. Volumes of desire.
Loser husband gets out and owes big money to bad people who beat him up and give him one chance to get their money. He has to rob a pawn shop for them. Gosling offers to help as the getaway driver, doing the only thing he knows how to do in order to ensure the wife's safety.
Things go bad. It's a set up. At this point, we realize that in every scene, things get deeper and deeper, more out of the element of this man who drives. He carries no gun. He isn't a "wise guy." He is gentle. Restrained. Careful. Cautious. Yet he rises seamlessly to each situation. We notice how aware he is of every person, every car, and we realize he has had some experience of which we know nothing and we begin to wonder what he did before he showed up five years ago to become a grease monkey, get-away car driver, wanna be race car driver. But I didn't think about it too much, the movie was too engrossing.
All of this is played softly, subdued. Gosling probably only says 15 sentences. Maybe 20 tops. Mulligan, reminding me a lot of Michelle Williams, probably says about the same. The plot is interesting but not of major importance.
A man of few words, he is an action person. All of a sudden, we have swung over into The Man With No Name territory. But it's so low key the only action is violence. Major stomp your head into a rotten tomato violence. Whoa. Where did that come from?
Albert Brooks is a cheap hood who has become a nice guy but is actually a professional killer and a cheap hood. Ron Pearlman is his partner who knows he's a cheap hood. They're a nice foil. Brooks probably has the most lines, as is apropos.
But everything comes to a head, of course. And you are left wondering . . . who is this driver guy? It is a beautiful movie and you should see it.