A Hollywood stunt driver by day (Ryan Gosling), a loner by nature, who moonlights as a top-notch getaway driver-for-hire in the criminal underworld finds himself a target for some of LA's most dangerous men after agreeing to aid the husband of his beautiful neighbour, Irene (Carey Mulligan). When the job goes dangerously awry, the only way he can keep Irene and her son alive is to do what he does best - Drive.
Reviews
The Scotsman
Alistair Harkness
"Set in a retro yet oddly timeless Los Angeles, this is a movie-movie, one that exists in a world defined by other films, and Refn uses this to his advantage, riffing on LA's status as a tarnished dream factory to strip back the layers of illusion. "
24/09/2011
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Channel 4 Film
Catherine Bray
"Its plot is the least crucial element in a stimulatingly amoral cocktail mixing a great central performance, great script and great direction."
26/09/2011
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Empire Magazine
Adam Smith
"Refn delivers a gripping, gritty neo-noir drenched in so much mid-’80s styling that the only thing that seems to be missing is Simon Bates thanking us for listening and exhorting us to enjoy the film."
26/09/2011
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The Evening Standard
David Sexton
"As Driver, Ryan Gosling is just riveting. What you are seeing here is a very good actor becoming a major star."
23/09/2011
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The Daily Mail
Chris Tookey
"... the film has the courage of its noir-ish convictions. "
23/09/2011
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The Observer
Philip French
"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. "
25/09/2011
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Screen
Mark Adams
"The moments of brutality and blood may well hamper its ability to reach large audiences, but is a film to be admired and should find an appreciative home."
20/05/2011
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Time Out
Tom Huddleston
"Drive never drags: this is an entirely welcome riff on old material, a pulse-pounding, electronically enhanced cover version of a beloved standard. "
22/09/2011
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The Times
Kate Muir
"This is both cocksure and minimalist, rather like its toothpick chewing, knuckle-cracking hero. "
23/09/2011
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The Sunday Times
Cosmo Landesman
"There are actually few car chases or stunts in the film, and Refn makes what car action there is totally gripping. He doesn’t fetishise cars, he fetishes those car films of the 1970s. "
25/09/2011
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Total Film
Jamie Graham
"It’s this clashing of moods and subverting of stereotypes that sets Drive’s engine purring..."
13/09/2011
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The Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
"It's a film in love with both traditional noir mythology and ultra-modern violence, a combination that is not ideal."
16/09/2011
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The New York Times
O. A Scott
"Drive is somber, slick and earnest, and also a prisoner of its own emptiness, substituting moods for emotions and borrowed style for real audacity. "
15/09/2011
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The Financial Times
Nigel Andrews
"Beware of flash photography – and flash direction..."
22/09/2011
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The Guardian
Peter Bradshaw
"Drive is a movie with power but is still directionless..."
22/09/2011
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The Independent
Anthony Quinn
"It's pulp, of course, and increasingly violent with it."
23/09/2011
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The Independent on Sunday
Jonathan Romney
"Drive is an American movie to the core, luxuriating in Hollywood style in a way that actual American films rarely do."
25/09/2011
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The Daily Telegraph
Sukhdev Sandhu
"Drive is a masterpiece of surface over depth. Catnip for anyone who thinks cinema is for the eye rather than the brain or heart. "
22/09/2011
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The New Statesman
Ryan Gilbey
"Perhaps we shouldn't expect sanity from a film that equates morality with good dress sense. "
22/09/2011
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