Nothing more than a well-made knock-off of 80s Van Damme action/drama pulp. Now I'm all for tributes to oft-maligned genres, but it only works when there's some twist of creativity at the core. Here the filmmaker decides to neglect creative spirit & stick to the tropes of the originals, all for retro-authenticity. It's a shame, because it's a very well thought out film. However, ultimately the meticulousness and the visually striking cinematography still lead to a movie that's a waste of time.
Hill's The Driver wasn't a thriller it was thrilling, featuring the best on-screen car chases to this day. Refn, infected by Mann, produces fake toughness, fake sentimentality and fake style.
Simultaneously a glorious bath in the conventions of the 80's car action flick, and a relentless deconstruction of it, Nicolas Winding Refn crushes in his display of the three most important words in cinema: "Show, don't tell". Drive is the most beautifully ugly film of 2011.
Frankly, Refns' previous film "Bronson" was child's play in the wake of this piece of monumental artistry. In retrospect, the genius of Nicolas Winding Refn is in its most utmost illumination. Given that generally much regarding the written tangent of the film is fundamentally a modus operandi Hollywood orthodoxy, it clearly fortifies Refn's masterful reign of cinematic finesse; his stylistic prowess firmly erected. He didn't do this on his own, Gosling and Mulligan exhibited unwavering purity.
my expectations to this movie - was sky high.
So I was a little disappointed, however...
This is by far the best movie that has come from Danish director Winding Refn's hands.
It is original and way different from the usually big bang explosion in your face movie... but then again the violence explodes onto your face... it is not for everyone, but for us movie geeks it is pure art.
And Gosling totally rocks
Everything here -- from the Driver's few, objective lines to the eruptive violence of the second half -- just leaves you goddam stunned -- or stoned, whatever: the dark neon cinematography, the slow, soundtrack-driven narrative, and the perfect atmosphere (with sparse lights and a great amount of shadows) of a somber man -- he's the new God's lonely man. This is the most stylish action film since Heat.
I never write reviews but something had to be said about the terrible 80's motif and soundtrack. Not to mention the unconvincing love story that's the foundation of the entire plot. ugh.
Drive is exceptionally stylish, features a strong synthetic soundtrack, and makes effective and powerful use of violence by interspersing it with terse character development. Gosling's stoicism has astounding weight, and both he and Mulligan deliver powerful performances with very little dialogue. However, and perhaps due to the muted nature of its leads, the film feels somewhat superficial, and though it is aesthetically pleasing it doesn't have enough emotional depth to really move me.
Self-conscious attempt to remake a Jean-Paul Belmondo gangster film without Jean-Paul Belmondo. Although packed with style, through an inexplicable 80s filter, and featuring some tension-filled scenes, I found it overall to be hollow and exploitive. I hope that someday, as a culture, we can all look back on cheap, bloody, amoral storytelling like this and be embarrassed. Surely, Perlman and Brooks, always seeming on the verge of cracking up, already are.
As cool as Melvilles "Le Samouraï", as neo-pulpy as Tarantinos "Death Proof" and "Pulp Fiction", as gory as "Irréversible", as gritty and bloody as "Taxi Driver".
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