Moody, stylish and quiet movie. Weak and unsatisfactory story.

Rating: 6/10 (9 September 2011)

Driver is a story of an unnamed laconic protagonist - all action hero minus the one liners and more than that all the conversations kept to a bare minimum. In fact, the lack of responses and the silence between scenes of immense cartoonish violence drew laughter out of the audience; possibly because there is room left for reactions but we are given none, just swathes of silence. The story is perhaps secondary to the vibe and style deriving it's ingredients from mob logic of why all the cast dies or is slated to be killed.
One thing that Driver doesn't strive towards is the standard action fare of Transporter series or the car-mod scene of Fast Furious movies. The few car chase scenes are well done, the highlight being the first one evading the police but really isn't enough of it to be a car chase fan's movie. Most drivings are like videos for pounding 80s-insipired synth-pop soundtrack. It dwells heavily on the brooding and moody ambiance that never leads to any sort of payoff.
The biggest fault of the movie is that it doesn't tell a story, everybody does their thing and then it's over. Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan look gorgeous all highlighted by the lingering and lengthy close-ups. Oscar Issac manages to exude an unlikeable vibe and Ron Perlman does his thing stealing a few scenes. The movie won't have everyone cheering in the theater but will leave audience with little bursts of uncomfortable laughter and then a vibe rather than a story when it ends.