A troubling, exciting, rather perfect film.

Rating: 10/10 (8 November 2011)

I think Nicolas Winding Refn can't be described as a "cult" director anymore. This film should bring down the hammer to that. It also puts down all the skeptics and leaves them shaken. If I were to describe this film I would say "Le Samurai" meets "A History Of Violence".
It is more satisfying than both of those classics. Some movies have this undeniable grace and intensity to them. Drive is no exception, but it races past that labeling at full throttle. It is subtle and rough. Compassionate and sexy. Violent and, yes, extreme. I loved this film.
Ryan Gosling plays Driver. Nothing formal, yet his boss (Bryan Cranston) says it in such a way (he calls Gosling "kid" a lot as well) you sense a long time friendship between the two and the name "Driver" becomes formal. I found myself sucked in already.
Cranston also provides Driver with cars. Driver moonlights as a getaway driver for crooks. The opening scene shows us Driver staring off into the city, explaining his methods and rules over the phone. Actually, methods would be him opening up to others how he works. No, Gosling's expression shows us he means business and he is laying down the law.
Driver is detached but likable. We know nothing about him though, he barely even talks. When he is spoken to it takes him a good minute to reply. What he did say I was holding on to for days. He has this twitch of madness in his eyes that echoes Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver) while possessing that cool expression of calm. If I had hired him as my getaway driver, I would feel confident with him behind the wheel.
He soon meets his apartment neighbor, played by a gorgeous and damaged Carey Mulligan. She has a son and her husband is in prison. Driver soon shows her that he cares for her and her son. He drives them around and never forces anything upon her, nor does she upon him. They obviously love each other at one point, but the glances they exchange say everything. It is beautiful and equally devastating. You want to see these two be together and have a life, but she is loyal to her imprisoned husband.
Right when it seems they are beginning to start something worthwhile, Mulligan gets a call saying her husband will be released soon. When she reveals this to Driver there is this stare you just need to see for yourself to soak in. I cannot get over the depth behind their faces.
Driver continues with his life after seeing Mulligan and her son are in good hands with the believably changed ex convict. But he soon finds the free man beaten to a pulp. He owes some bad men money, and if the debt is not attended to they will kill his entire family.
Driver cannot allow this. After a heist gone horrifically wrong (with Driver assisting the husband) the film descends into the dark depths of Driver's madness. He goes to such lengths to protect the only people he loves it is almost inhuman. He is a monster we soon find out and probably insane. Something has snapped inside Driver, he is not normal at all if you couldn't already tell.
Soon Driver becomes entangled with Albert Brooks, a gang leader roughing up everyone in the vicinity with a grin on his face. Brooks is accompanied by a brilliant Ron Perlman who just seems to love picking on Cranston but is emotionally abused himself.
I loved this movie with a passion, but that is not what I felt walking out. I was polarized. It may have one of the best endings ever. How it is executed and the music playing over it was chilling. There doesn't seem to be much score here, but there is, and the score is catchy and 80's like. If that isn't enough nostalgia there are certain songs in this film (most notably Real Hero) that make you feel like you are in the Driver's seat going fast. Well, it made me feel that way.
I was caught up in the moment during every second of this film. I cannot single out a best performance because the whole cast is just perfect here. Never annoying, always compelling. Nicolas Winding Refn deserved that best director award at Cannes and deserves it at the Oscars in my opinion. Sure he won't win, but look at how passionately filmed every frame of this film is.
There have been other great movies this year. Melancholia, The Tree Of Life, I Saw The Devil. But Drive takes the cake for me because it won't even give me a chance to eat it. The film makes a clear distinction, watch now, think later. When I thought about it later I cried my eyes out, the experience was so powerful and flooring that I felt like someone hit me with a bag of bricks.
I noticed something about this review and that is I keep saying "it will make you" or "it will suck YOU in". Honestly, I can't make guarantees to all of you that you will love it, but even if you disliked it or even hated it you cannot deny Refn's brutally honest craft. The best example of perfect directing in the film takes place in an elevator. That is where the sexy, the stylish, the extreme, and everything in-between mixed in.