I’ve never really put much thought behind Ryan Gosling, but Drive has changed that. He’s awesome. I think the only other movie I’ve seen him in is Lars and the Real Girl which he was also really good in, but gad zooks. Mr. Gosling plays the Driver, a mysterious and stoic man that evokes some classic Clint Eastwood vibes.

“Driver” as he’s labeled in the credits is a Hollywood stunt driver that moon lights as a getaway driver. He’s got very simple rules: I’m only the driver. I don’t have a weapon, you tell me where to be and where you want to go and I give you 5 minutes from when I show up to get your business done. A second passed that and I’m gone. You make it into the car I’m with you until our trip is done.

With that set in place he becomes involved in a job with the boyfriend of his neighbor. It turns out to be a trap and Driver has to fight his way out of a contract that’s been put on his head. Gosling is just so good in this movie he carries this crazy world on his shoulders. Driver is one of my favorite characters in years. He’s really quite, he doesn’t look like much, but the confidence this guy has is just unnerving. He lives his life on a very narrow, but clear line. Anything that happens on that line is handled with zero hesitation. Very Dirty Harry, but without the gun.

Film nuts have to see this movie, it’s so well made it’s like a lesson in mise en scene. Insane care and thought was put into every frame that you see. Director Nicolas Winding Refn is one of my favorites after discovering his first movie, Pusher, about 5 years ago. He’s got the cinematic eye that crops up every couple of years. I really think he’s on the path to becoming a name like Tarantino, Scorsese and Kubrik. It’s shot in a very slow and methodical way, the composition and lighting carefully considered in every scene. The soundtrack is of Tarnatino quality, it all fits together perfectly. The ads make the movie look like an action flick, but it’s more of a drama. There’s a handful of action scenes and they’re pretty quick, but everyone of them is striking. The movie opens with Driver doing his night job and there is almost no dialog. You don’t know any of the characters or what they’re stealing, just that this driver is going to get them all out of hot water. The images are so clear and concise (major props to the editing as well) that just watching it all unfold in front of you is more story than dialog could convey in the scene. Sitting there I felt the tension of sneaking around the cops, avoiding both cars and helicopter pursuit. You never leave the car with Driver and his passengers, careful actions cut together with the responses of the passengers expressions work so well together it really made a mark on me. So much and yet so little of Driver is conveyed after this opening that it made my head spin.

The movie plays out like a roller coaster where you cruise through the valleys leading to long scenes that ratchet up the plot and tension. That leaves the apex of the scene to erupt in a torrent of violence that sends you rocketing down the other side. The violence is really intense, but it’s not gory for the sake of being shocking. It’s the punctuation of a scene that is so packed that it has to pop to move the plot forward. Drive takes place in a harsh world with people who don’t take no for an answer; it’s survival. The pacing is what makes this film not for everyone. The slower parts can feel like a drag, but there is so much to take in visually that I was totally engrossed through all of it. Driver’s awesome shiny jacket with the gold scorpion on the back is destined to be a icon. One of my favorite movies in quite some time.