Taxi Driver meets Citizen Kane.

Rating: 10/10 (26 October 2011)

Incredible - astounding - genius! Martin Scorsese (pumped up on Scorsese Juice) on his best day, maybe... maybe, could have made this film. The casting, acting, lighting, score, set design, wardrobe, continuity are all superb. Beyond that, in a realm of it's own (where only Angels dwell) the cinematography, lighting and (most of all) editing are beyond words - inspired, even genius. The film is beautiful in every way. There is not a second of dead space. The acting and directing are subdued to the point of cracking. The script is intelligent, crisp, taut, naked and censored of bullshit. The violence is visceral – most disturbing not in its graphic display but in its contextual presentation. Never gratuitous; never senseless - the violence hurts most because it is exactly what it is and nothing more. Albert Brooks says "It's OK, it's OK, no more pain, it's over" an we want to crawl under our seats until mommy wakes us in the morning and tells us it was just a nightmare. Who resurrected Gregg Toland, Robert Wise and Bernard Hermann to photograph, edit and score this film? Who brought the young Orson Welles, Frank Capra, Sam Fuller and Francis Ford Coppola together to direct this masterpiece? Drive should be mandatory viewing for every film student for the next 100 years. Battleship Potemkin, Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Drive: This is our world in miniature.