Gosling's character is beautifully crafted, and the story is terrifically tragic. The real gaping hole here was a lack of any female presence with a backbone, but I can forgive Refn that for what he was trying to achieve.
Old trick: look meaningful (with a shade of suffering) and say nothing.
By uprooting ourselves from the self-absorbing module of human subjectivity, the insults we receive are left with no object to possess and their very occurrence in the reflection of our mirror shall be denied. Selfless and Godlike in its ways, Drive is the most Christian revenge movie ever made. (gets better on rewatch)
The rare modern Hollywood action film with a long buildup of quiet to properly build its character relationships. It later balances subtlety with ultra-violent action, and by then we understand how they feel and what makes them do what they do. That's focused storytelling. While the way it finds beauty instead of horror during ghastly things is also impressive, as is Refn's enchantingly moody directing style.
I was never quite sure where this film was going, which I enjoyed. I also like the getaway drive that involves using his brain rather than the usual high-octane unrealism. My main complaint is that Ryan Reynolds dishing out violence with such aplomb took me out of the film. Oh, so the pretty boy is killing professional hitmen now? Good job bad guys are so inept at their jobs eh.
Only saw it once, but the impression I got was that of a film which transmits not only based on what is seen and described on the screen but also based on what is felt on the viewer's side. This is the mark of a great film, to be able to say something about the story and the characters involved in it even in the moments of silence or solitude. Do that as a filmmaker and your work is nearly complete already.
2,5 Des ben belles images, de la ben bonne musique, un beau beau garçon, une ben belle ti fille, mais faut pas trop y'toucher, faut que sa reste propre propre.
Contemporary synthwave masterpiece! Refn definitely took filmmaking formulas from 70's action films esp. Cox's Repo Man with the alluring neon lighting, fashionably cool characters with Gostling's satin varsity/bomber jacket, that macho persona of driving classic muscle cars, fighting crimes and of course, falling in love and saving the girl they barely met. Even then, Drive delivers it all so well! A Cult Classic!
Great look, good action and action, decent story. A very well made film, Gosling is good, but what's missing?