93% Drive

All Critics (188) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (174) | Rotten (14) | DVD (2)

In grabbing our attention, [Refn] diverts it from what matters. The horror lingers and seeps; the feelings are sponged away.

The extreme and escalating violence will prove off-putting to some-frankly, I'm surprised not to have been among them-but for the rest, Drive is a needle-punch of adrenaline to the aorta.

In reworking genres without quoting shamelessly, Refn proves himself his own man and a guy quite capable of taking us places we didn't even know we wanted to go.

Drive is pedal-to-the-metal stuff. Don't get behind the wheel unless you can take the rush.

This is no antic-frantic affair; instead, it's a cerebral game of stop-and-go, hide-and-seek, as the director behind the camera handles things exactly like the guy behind the wheel - with a stylish mixture of cold calculation and cool aplomb.

The pace of this film is a beautiful thing to behold, as Drive is a patient but taut thriller.

High-octane excitement for the art-house set ... Think 'Two-Lane Blacktop' meets Kubrick's 'The Killing' meets Bresson ... Gosling's King of Cool may be the new McQueen.

Like the novels of Raymond Chandler and the paintings of David Hockney, Drive is both an accurate view of southern California's intoxicating sleaze and glamour and the filtering of it through a European sensibility.

A film that moves relentlessly forward, carrying you along so completely that it's only afterwards, if at all, that you begin to wonder about origins and plausibilities.

In proving that less is more, Rifn has sent out a message to Hollywood in this age of austerity.

Like watching rats fight in a gorgeously lit bucket, this is compellingly nasty, but for those with stomach for it, Drive is a lot of fun.

An artful, impressively made film, and one sure to excite cinephiles, everyday adrenaline junkies, and fans of stylized car chases set to an indie synthpop soundtrack.

An unusually upscale, and surprisingly satisfying, action film.

The tension is agonising... then rubber burns, the engine revs and we hold on tight. For the next 90 minutes, we don't let go.

Hold on tight and prepare for the ride of your life.

Winding Refn steals with such intelligence and thoughtfulness that there is a boldness and creativity to the film even though hardly a single moment of it is "original" in any way.

Gosling gives a laconic, sexy, quietly charming performance evocative of Steve McQueen, as a Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver.

Weighted with steely silences and sudden explosions of graphic violence, Drive confronts and dismantles our expectations with a hardened confidence that is all too rare in contemporary Hollywood filmmaking

A juggernaut of emotion that tentatively and unknowingly builds up speed then knocks you for six with some uncompromising and ultra-violent scenes.

Drive is a masterpiece of surface over depth. Catnip for anyone who thinks cinema is for the eye rather than the brain or heart.

Even when the screen goes berserk - a face splintering under a stamping heel, a master-crook attacking a defenceless colleague's features with a knife and fork - director Refn doesn't blink or expect us to.

By no means perfect, although it's hard to process the flaws while your insides are singing and you can't catch your breath.

Gosling exudes Steve McQueen-esque cool but there's not enough going on under the bonnets of these characters to justify the laboured, pretentious execution.

Drive is a movie with power but is still directionless; the acceleration is great, but the steering needs looking at.

Stylishly directed and superbly written, this is an achingly cool, pulse-pounding thriller with a terrific central performance from Ryan Gosling. Great soundtrack too.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/drive_2011/

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