This is an atmospheric drama with Ryan Gosling as a Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver for hire in LA.

SPOILERS

It was directed by Nicholas Winding Refn, but I had to keep reminding myself throughout this movie that it wasn't directed by Michael Mann.   Every Mann trademark is present here:  The night shots of the city, the electronic 80's soundtrack and the ultra-stylized images.

Gosling is excellent.  He actually has some real gravitas as the unnamed Driver who finds himself caught up with low life gangsters as he tries to romance the woman who lives next door.

The actual story let the movie down a bit, IMO.  Bag of money stolen from the mob, they want it back, etc.  Nothing new there.

The violence is graphic enough to shock you.  Razors, hammers, shotguns and one hell of a head stomping scene give this movie a brutal edge to it.

So, while it's great to look at and extremely well acted, especially by Gosling and Albert Brooks, there just wasn't all that much here that hasn't been covered in other films.  Great for a dvd rental.  

This was a pretty awesome movie, but I suspect most people will hate it, there were a few walk outs where I was, you gotta wait an hour before the gorefest starts, but I didn't mind at all. I really liked Malcolm in the middle's dad, he was a bit of a goof but a part of me really liked him. Albert Brooks stabbing a guy in the eye with a fork, then going all Michael Myers on him was pretty sweet, and then there was the head stomping, man that head just came apart. Pretty cool movie, easily one of the best I have seen this year, but will probably be hated by most people...oh well.

my favorite movie so far this year. i've told everyone to see it (even my mainstream friends) and surprisingly, they enjoyed it too. never has a movie been so subdued and minimalistic, yet so stylized at the same time. bryan cranston is the shit (see breaking bad) and ron perlman is the man. not a huge fan of gosling but he nailed this film.

overall, go see it. now.

Classy is a word you'll see thrown around a lot with this film. As will stylish. The Mann-esque landscapes of an alive LA at night will meet many approvals, even if they fail to reach the same heights. It's a beautifully shot film, with a very assured hand on the tiller. The soundtrack plays a pivotal role in this experience. It kind of reminded me of the thumping vibrancy present throughout TRON, which was powered by that incredible Daft Punk score. The performances are strong with Gosling showing a brooding James Dean-like quality. Perhaps he'd look at Brando as an inspiration in trying to fill the screen. There are some interesting theories in terms of what his character symbolises and it's no mistake that the tagline and character arc suggests a deeper metaphor. The idea of an autistic driver or a 'superhero' attempting to ingratiate himself in the 'real world' (i.e. family life) is not without currency. To me, at its very core,  this is a simple story of a loner unable to find his place in the world. Deeper readings are interesting but require a rigorous substantiation.

There's no doubt that the NWR was able to deliver a moody thriller that left you constantly guessing. That's to be commended. This film is to be commended. Ultimately, though, this film left me unaffected. I did enjoy its craftsmanship and consider the opening scene to be breathtaking. In a way, the film is subsequently judged by that absurdly high yardstick and, IMO, fails to deliver anything like the same quality throughout. There's no doubt that a certain section of people will assume a flaw in the viewer for failing to 'get it'. Perhaps so, but the story itself is pretty trite. The allegory found by some is more a product of a thinking exercise largely unaided by the film - where is the stimuli provided by the film itself. I'm not convinced. Film should never answer thematic questions definitively, but it should ultimately ask the questions. The script didn't do that. NWR drained every last ounce from the material and his ascent will no doubt continue. I look forward to his future work.

Personally, I'm hit or miss with Nicholas Winding Refn's  work.
I thought "Bronson" was a powerhouse driven by Tom Hardy.
But, I couldn't wait for "Valhalla Rising" to be over.
Both films though, march to their own beat.
And in today's cinematic climate, that's a rare quality.

For me, "Drive" lands somewhere in between those films.
I'm a big fan of Walter Hill's, "The Driver".
Heck, I even got to meet Bruce Dern at a special screening of the car chase noir thriller.
So, I'm a tad predisposed to liking this one.

I don't deny, it drags at times, but it's mostly intentional.
I can see where the walkouts come from those unfamiliar with NWR's style.
Style over substance mostly works to great effect here.
The scene with Brooks and Perlman hashing out the plot was dreadful.
The resolution is too lean for my tastes, but overall a potent effort.
I can see why Hollywood studios are falling all over themselves to land this guy.

"Drive" is an intoxicating mix of "The Driver" and "Manhunter" that works for me.

E.D.

Nothing I can say that isn't covered in the above two posts.  One of the best American movies in a long long time.  Strongly recommend seeing this one in theatre.  

Drive is class, through and through. I can't remember the last time I saw such a winning pair of actor and director. While I wasn't a fan of Valhalla Rising, I think it all of Refn's films I've seen thus far (this, Valhalla and Bronson) show a distinct directorial style while still being distinct from each other. Visually, I think he's both virtuosic and unique and definitely a name to look out for in the future.

But I don't think Drive's filmmaking would've been quite as memorable if it weren't for Gosling's performance. What a refreshing change in a world of Heath Ledgers and Natalie Portmans. Laid back and understated but what charisma! Gosling is a movie star here in the most classic sense and the camera compliments him greatly without gushing over him. In short, he commanded the film. I think given another 5-10 years and maybe another Refn movie or two (why not?), he could prove to be one of his generation's Brad Pitts.

I really enjoyed the rest of the performances as well and the soundtrack was surprisingly full of win.

And in spite of it all, Drive is artful, unhurried and restrained until it reaches the right moments to let loose. It's got mystique and while it was slower than I expected, it grew on me as I watched it and stuck in my mind well after I left the theater.

Film of the year for me so far.

I came into this film with big expectations on the basis of the cast, the director (although I've only seen Bronson and Valhalla Rising I was a big fan of both) and the genre it was paying homage to. I love the “carsploitation” films of the 70s like The Driver, Two Lane Blacktop, The Vanishing, etc and this seemed like a match made in heaven. Anybody I've talked to whose opinion I would value all gave it rave reviews so it quickly became a top priority.

Unfortunately, I was left rather underwhelmed. Everything I anticipated in terms of style, violence and laconic coolness was delivered in spades, it was the story I had problems with and where I thought it severely lacked. This genre by its very nature is thin on plot and exposition but Drive seemed to spend too much time in the middle third preoccupied with the relationship that for me was devoid of any real chemistry. Maybe this was the point given Ryan Gosling's cipher of a main character. How much depth was a looking for here is probably my own mistake but to spend so much time on a relationship that didn't have any resolution and just seemed pointless and frustrating for the other, stronger elements the film had going for it.

This was a guy who had shirked away from any meaningful connection in his life bar the adrenaline he experiences behind the wheel who was now suddenly open to risking his life for a girl I was never convinced he cared about in the romantic sense. She seemed like more of a goal for him, an object whereby he could devote all his energies and skill into saving but why, why risk everything for something so fleeting and ephemeral. Although the film lingers in the development of this growing bond I never believed in it, instead I was waiting when he was going to get driving again.

It took on  a number of subplots in the opening half from his stunt work to the race car driving venture but these fall by the wayside as the central motivation of the story takes form once Standard is released from prison and Ryan Gosling decides to become the good Samaritan

The mechanics of the plot become very simplistic and formulaic from then on with little room for subtext or surprise. Once the job goes tits up it’s merely a stock back and forth game of revenge, a repetitious eye for an eye scenario. He takes out one of them, they take out someone close to him....repeat till there is only one left. It all felt a bit old hat, unoriginal and most disappointingly very predictable. The violence was graphic but to what end? Just to shock us, further alienate the viewer from the events unfolding as well as the protagonist who I knew less about when the credits rolled as I did when we first meet him. I'm not an action junkie, the opposite in fact but I found myself yearning for more driving, I wanted to see him in his element, doing what he does best, instead it concentrates more on what he finds difficult, communicating with other people and again by the end, he didn't seem to have developed in that respect either.

These are just my first impressions after one viewing, they could change considerably with a second look which I'll make it my business to do asap while my initial opinions are still fresh. As it stands though, I can't deny that I was very let down by what I saw given all the positivity surrounding it. To sum it up, I wanted more of what it didn’t give us enough of and less of what it actually offered. As a result I was cold, unengaged and unsatisfied along with the unshakable feeling that this was a missed opportunity.

Oh, it’s got some dodgy a?s music cues in there too, far too bombastic, poppy and cheerful, it only served to undermine the tone and atmosphere it strived so hard to establish (and successful too) from the beginning.

Dayum! I think this has to be the most overrated movie of 2011. I tried to like it, I really did but it was just so simple and bad.

colkurtz8 got the review dead on. I really can't believe this is going to get oscar nominations.

But these are just my thoughts so we will see what happens  

Watched this again hoping I missed out on something the first time.

While I enjoyed it more the second time, the underwhelming feeling still persists mainly due to the reasons I stated after the first viewing. I simply didn't believe in Carey Mulligan's character or her and Ryan Gosling's relationship at all. Their chemistry was nonexistent unless you call long stares into each other's eyes without any dialogue, engaging.

The scene immediately preceding the kiss and foot stomp in the elevator required a much more inquisitive Irene. Her boyfriend has been shot, she knows Gosling was involved, rightly slaps him but never demands an explanation of what actually went down and what was Gosling's part in it. She should have been bombarding him with questions, accusations even, instead she willing accepts his guarded, one sentence replies and agrees to take a walk with him before the hitman arrives in the elevator.

I get that the kiss was done more for dramatics, character connection and visual flourish but it felt so implausible and out of place. The father of her child had just been murdered and she goes necking the guy who had played some part in it (she doesn't know of course because the silly girl doesn't seem to want to find out) Unlike Gosling, she doesn’t realise the other guy in the elevator is here to kill them so while Gosling is doing it more as a diversion she obviously just wants to kiss him, sorry I just can’t comprehend that after what’s gone down.

The plot during the third act is where it really falls down in my opinion, so formulaic and stock, kill for kill and that's all there is to it.

Visuals are still great, a consistently cool, brooding tone pervades throughout (bar a few suspect songs choices) and a couple of good car chases happen but you need more than that to make a good film.

Oh and can someone tell me on what grounds could Gosling's character be angry with Shannon when the latter goes to Rose about the botched heist? He told Gosling that he was going to do it a couple of scenes previous without any objection from him. It seemed a wise thing to do since at the time they didn't realise Nino, so by association, Rose was involved.

On the contrary, Shannon should have been pissed with him for bringing all this heat down just to protect some girl he barely knew. Shannon done nothing wrong only employ Gosling as a mechanic and stunt driver. He also bigged him up as a potentially great race car driver and supplied him with cars for his getaway jobs. It’s Gosling that got involved with the woman and her small time crook boyfriend. Then felt it his duty to jeopardise everything to protect her while ruining Shannon's enterprise in the process. I know Shannon was portrayed as a weak willed, mealy mouthed character but he should have tore Gosling a new one for creating this sh?tstorm.

You can argue that Gosling was doing the right thing and unforseen forces caused all the problems. That’s fair enough but he had no right to be as angry as he was with Shannon.

Opinions?

This movie does not disappoint. Worth checking out.

It's a modern day Frankenstein story. I'll get to that.

It very consciously takes an unusual approach. Gosling's character is known just as "Driver". We never really learn much about his history, except that desire for money does not seem to be much of a motivating factor for him.

Right away, we see he's a strange guy. He's the anti-hero, anti-social trype, but not in the usual way. Normally characters like this have been burnt so severely in the past that they become desensitized to humanity, with perhaps a residual anger and the seeds from which a new heart might grow under the right circumstances. They are a product of their experience.

The Driver's anti-social nature, however, is a fundamental part of who he is. Like a pathology. He is like a serial killer that somehow has it under control. We wonder if he suffers from some psychological condition like autism. He has difficulty relating to people. He doesn't like human contact, even shaking hands. He's slow to answer questions, and his words are sparse. It gives him an inhuman quality, which also allows him to be absolutely cool under pressure and completely brutal when needed.

Things begin to change when he falls for his neighbor, whose husband is in jail, and he becomes close to her and her little boy. This opens a humanity in him which never had existed before in his solitary life, and he likes it.

When the husband gets out of jail, he remains loyal to the wife and son, so tries to help the husband out of a debt to the mob. This sparks a chain of events which sets up the Driver against the mob, and ultimately his bosses, as it turns out. It's a little contrived, but no big deal.

MAJOR SPOILER

When the husband dies, the Driver seeks to protect the woman and her son. He even entertains the hope that they can be together. But it is not to be. The inhuman part of him, which is what gives him his strength, is also what makes him a monster. When she sees this, though she loves him, she knows they can never be together. And he knows it too. As with the Frankenstein monster.

This realization is poignantly revealed in a unique elevator scene, where the woman and the driver share the ride with a man sent to kill them. The Driver knows he will have to kill the man before they get out. He knows he will have to unleash the monster within him. And he knows things will never be the same with her once she sees it. So he leans in and gives her a long kiss. All while he knows the guy is about to kill them. Cool at all times, the Driver is. After the kiss, he kills the guy in the most brutal manner. She is horrified. The elevator door closes, and this is the last time they will see each other.

This is what gives his final actions their purity, and thus the film its power. He knows he can never be with the woman and her kid. But he's willing to risk it all to settle things with the gangsters in order to achieve their safety. Underneath it all, he may be a controlled psychopath, but his actions are human and unselfish in the fullest sense.

There are plenty of cliche elements to the story: the bag of money, the helpless girl, the loner assassin, the knucklehead gangsters. But to focus on those is to miss the point and power of the tale. Those are just familiar landmarks on a highway that allow us to see through to what the director wants us to see, which is the struggle for this man to connect to something human, though it is absolutely foreign to his nature.

On Kevin's recommendation, I took this out for a spin on Netflix.  It had actually been parked in my que for quite awhile.

I actually really like Ryan Gosling.  Thought he was excellent in Murder by Numbers and Fracture, just to name a few of his flicks.  He's one of those rare actors that actually brings something unique to all his roles.

I am not a huge fan of writer/director Nicholas Winding Refn.  Thought Valhalla Rising looked like my kind of flick and fell asleep numerous times throughout, never completing the viewing.

So here we have a critical darling many said was the best of 2011.  What will Jeffrey have to say about it?

Well, the good news is that I gave it 3 stars, meaning "I liked it".  That's as far as I can go, though.  It took me 2 nights to get through it,  I was actually nodding off several times in the opening 45 minutes and was seriously about ready to throw in the towel, like I did with Valhalla Rising.  But, I put the key in the ignition again last night and let the engine idle for a few minutes...

...and things picked up nicely, finally.  The 2nd half of the movie is definitely where all the power is, but I still wasn't all that impressed.  It's violent and I appreciate that, but when you really think about it, it's not all that violent - it's just violent for what it is and what peeps thought it would be.

It's really an arthouse type film.  Brooding, stylistic, SLOW, supposedly deep.  Shots are all set up well and framed well.  Some cool angles used, weird lighting at times, long pauses between dialogue and...well, everything.

And that's why I didn't really like it all that much.  Because of all the purposely  placed pauses, it really has a slow, dragging feeling, which is really the opposite it should, based on the title and possible frenetic action.

But, my 2 biggest gripes of all are the story and lack there of, and the completely implausible relationship between Gosling and Mulligan.  Just totally unbelievable the way it's laid out and this comes back to haunt the entire story for me.

$15 Million budget, $76 WWBO...nicely done.  I'm actually very surprised it did so well and got such high praise.

Refn has driven his way into the bigtime and I think he actually may prove to be a force with his style.  He's helming the remake of Logan's Run and has Mr. Gosling as his lead again.  I fondly remember seeing the original with my sister and Mom at the theater back in 76.

So, final analysis would be that I did enjoy it after the drive was over and the car was safely parked back in my garage, but as the drive was taking place, my mind was wandering and I felt as if there was some kind of lock on the tranie and I couldn't get into 4th or 5th gear.

Quoted from nawazm11 Dayum! I think this has to be the most overrated movie of 2011. I tried to like it, I really did but it was just so simple and bad.

Funny how peeps see movies differently – I think this was the best movie of 2011 and after many repeat viewings, I still think it’s a great slice of cinema.

Awesome soundtrack as well…

I'm firmly on the "top film" side of things.

It just worked...and that makes it a very rare thing in cinema.