Review - Drive

After finally getting to see Drive and after hearing good things about it, all I can say is - everyone was right. This is an absolutely spectacular film, a blueprint for how every action film should be from now on, eschewing the all too familiar and predictable route of all action, no plot or substance Drive creates a wholly realistic world, then places the action elements within it. It is intense, gritty and at times horrendously violent. The violence is very sparse in the film but when these moments hit they are a shock to system and after you see what the Driver is capable of, it puts the film on a knife's edge.

Quick plot crunch:

A mysterious man who has multiple jobs as a garage mechanic, a Hollywood stuntman and a getaway driver seems to be trying to escape his shady past as he falls for his neighbor - whose husband is in prison and who's looking after her child alone. The Driver gets more than he bargained for when he meets the man who is married to the woman he loves.

Gosling's first day at the hardware store didn't go so well

That is pretty much it, as it really kicks off from there. Ryan Gosling is just outstanding as the loner wheelman and he holds the screen every time he is on it, switching it up from quiet loner to seething avenger on cue. The other players - Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman all help give this film the gravity it deserves. One of the only quibbles I had with the film was the under utilization of Christina Hendricks, for such a good actor she doesn't get a lot to do.

An open ended finish will either make or break the film for you, I liked it, giving the viewer multiple explanations of what happened/what is to happen.

Well written, well acted and superbly directed (by Nicholas Winding Refn) Drive should be the new standard for action films.