Drive

After a summer of cheap thrills, Drive delivers thrills on the cheap. With a budget Michael Bay might have allocated for a single effects sequence in Transformers 3, Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn made one of the best movies of the year. Following Bronson and Valhalla Rising, Refn crafts his most polished, commercial work yet, while retaining all the ambiguity and unbridled aggression of his tough-as-nails art house pictures.

Bearing thematic resemblance to Darren Aronofsky's recent output, Drive is like Black Swan in overdrive. The film pins its headlights on the dark implications of unchecked obsession and good intentions gone haywire. That dangerous duality – humanity on the razor's edge of animal brutality – is played to unnerving perfection by Ryan Gosling.

Rightly among the most reliable names on the Hollywood marquee, the star of Drive plays a crucible of a character. A friendly, fatherly figure to his neighbor (Carey Mulligan) and her young son, he's decidedly less so when the two are threatened. A sort of oblique, ultraviolent superhero, the driver leaps to defend the innocent with bloody determination. If the first half of Drive plays as drama, the second is straight up revenge fare.

Playing on the juxtaposition of calm and calamity, Refn keeps us on our toes throughout. Quiet moments stretch into suffocating silence, and the explosive violence that inevitably shatters it practically tears the frame in half. The audio is expertly mixed; you'll want to see Drive loud. From its roaring engines and visceral blows to its curt dialogue, the film is an altar to the power of great sound design.

In truth, Drive isn't pervasively violent, though its most excruciatingly effective moments leave a memory trail like tire streaks on a sunbaked highway. At the heart of the story is a compelling, surprisingly tender romance. Carey Mulligan has proved herself a similarly reliable talent to Gosling, and has worked in recent years with the likes of Michael Mann, Oliver Stone, and Mark Romanek.

Her fragile character's relationship with the driver is subtle and nuanced in a manner atypical of thriller convention. They're not family, they're not even sleeping together. Drive is not a sexy film. Refn fetishizes neither cars nor women; if The Fast and the Furious is the sleek exterior curves of an automobile, Drive is the greasy, undulating pistons. And it's utilitarian at a lean 100 minutes.

The rest of the small cast also impresses. Albert Brooks plays against type as a cutthroat crime lord, and a note-perfect Ron Perlman plays his meathead partner. Bryan Cranston of TV's Breaking Bad has a small role too, as employer and confidant to Gosling's character. Their relationships shuffle as lines are drawn and redrawn, but none of them comes away unscathed by the film's end.

Drive is either the explosive end to a lukewarm summer movie season or an early autumn adrenaline rush. In machismo, it far outpaces its hundred million dollar competition, leaving overwrought tales of lesser heroes like Thor and Green Lantern in the dust. Its troubled characters, and the bonds of desperation that link them, elevate the film above its genre trappings and shield it from disposable entertainment status.

Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive is an anomaly. It's like a 1200 horsepower hybrid. And it's one of the best movies of 2011.

Drive is different, intense, brutal and simple, Drive is not like any other thief action film with a loud music, lot of gunshot, jump from here to there, it's not, Drive is a face pacing movie that will keep you interested every single second of it, fills with incredible performance by all the cast especially Ryan Gosling, Drive is a great time.

'Drive' is a visceral and brilliantly executed vision of art-house action; possibly one of the greatest art-house films to have graced the screen. Nicolas Winding Refn has created a stylised neo-noir thriller that is simply stunning; full of glorified violence and stroking imagery. The soundtrack is amazing, fully reflecting the films mood, whilst attempting to create an atmospheric feel to accompany the gritty action. 'Drive' is a captivating mix of contemporary and retro aesthetics. A stylish and taut thriller that keeps the audience entertained from start to finish with breathtaking sequences, brutal violence and stunning cinematography, a modern masterpiece that has truly redefined the noir genre.

At the Theater- "Drive" -- This is not an Action film, this is not a "Car" movie- It's a character-driven, slow-burn thriller of the first order that features elements of some of the finer works from Directorial royalty like Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann, William Friedkin, Quentin Tarantino, Walter Hill and the late Sam Peckinpah.

The film is an electric mixture of beautiful, lingering cinematography, a pulsating soundtrack, lean dialogue and short bursts of graphic, bloody violence. It's tense and involving- almost impossible not to get immersed in. Nicolas Winding Refn is a Director to definitely keep a tab on.

Ryan Gosling is the embodiment of some kind of cold fire at the heart of the matter- his "Driver" character is a well-intentioned but unstoppable force that will surely end up as a cult favorite for decades to come. Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks, Ron Perlman, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks and Oscar Issac round out an excellent cast that's pretty much in support but extremely well-utilized.

Those wanting to check out a quick and disposable, mindlessly fun popcorn flick need to steer clear- this isn't what you're looking for. This is deadly-serious film-making that's damned-near perfect.

It's my favorite film of the year- Hell, it's one of my all-time top faves.

9.5 outta 10

Ryan Gosling brings down the hammer on that line where logic reason and self preservation become secondary to protecting what is important to you. There are a few moments where he doesn't just cross that line but obliterates it completely.

Beautifully crafted pounding action thriller with twisted humor and seriously hard core violence. Compelling tenderness from characters that are unsophisticated in the best sense of the word.

This film will go down as one of the best Action films in decades. Car chases that rival and extend beyond Bullitt and French Connection. Violence that bursts out of the screen like a horror film or a bad dream by David Cronenberg. Passing moments of tenderness that are drawn out until you are slowly pulled into the emotional world of the protagonists.

Something so powerful, especially when it works, is the use of sharp and dramatic Camera Angles in Drive that mirror the emotional moment of the story drawing you into the characters world.

View and angles often extremely low angled and tilted sharply upward, effective at expanding the feeling of voyeurism of being at the dinner table or in the adjacent seat, right in the room with the characters while safely looking up from some shadow or nook or cranny. Very emotionally transcendent cinematography.

Night footage was amazingly successful at capturing the range of light and shadows, on a technical level the audio and video were strong and assured. Not only the first robbery but all the way through the film right up to the final resolution of the plot, the night was a familiar environment for major turns in the story (pun intended).

I will return hopefully soon to expand on this review, but I had to write something tonight because this film is ten times more badass than any Transporter or Fast and Furious fare that is usually sold in their all too obvious packaging.

Drive leaves them all in the Dust.

This filmed was viewed on the Big Screen at the LAFILMFEST screening June 17th 2011