When I started to get interested into film, I somehow started watching movie reviews on YouTube, and my favorite YouTube movie critic was and still is, Chris Stuckmann. After binge watching many of his videos, I found out that one of his favorite films is Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive. I decided to watch it one day, and I was very mixed on it at first. I then watched Chris Stuckmann's Analyzed video on Drive, but after that, I still didn't understand the movie too much. Then, one day, I just had the urge to watch it again. I don't know why, I just did, but watching it the 2nd time was a very mesmerizing experience. The soundtrack, the cinematography, the acting, and it's complex story makes Drive one of my favorite films of all time. Many people did not like this movie upon its release, and I think it is because of its misleading marketing. The trailers for Drive make it seems like the movie is a straight up action film with the utterly handsome Ryan Gosling in the leading role. The movie is actually a meticulously crafted neo-noir film that doesn't concentrate on the action, but on its complex story. This film is not only one of my favorite arthouse films, but one of my all time favorites.

Drive is one of those movies where, if you know the characters, you know the outcome - not because it's predicable, but because it's Biblical. It's a study in character, cause and effect.The Driver (Ryan Gosling) is a quiet loner, in the apartment down the hall. He doesn't say much (not even his real name). Maybe that's because still waters run deep. Maybe it's because he's living two lives - one as a Hollywood stunt driver and one as a getaway driver for jobs handed to him by Shannon (Bryan Cranston), who works for Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks). Next to his brother, Nino (Ron Perlman), Bernie is practically civilized for a gangster. Then again, if he were everything he seems to be, he wouldn't be a gangster.You know that phrase, "Get a life?" The Driver gets one when he notices pretty neighbor and single mom, Irene (Carey Mulligan). She's quiet, too, and lonely, what with her husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac) stuck in prison. There's a quiet chemistry between these two that could slice through butter, reminding me of how nice it is when movie people don't tell you everything that's going through their mind every second they're on screen. There's a sense that if you let it, these three would find a way to fill the gaps in their lives.But then Standard gets out of prison, and the dominoes start falling, not necessarily in the directions you expected but with the logic and fatality of a Presbyterian sermon. What's great about this film is that everybody does what they're inclined to do, for reasons that are compelling to who they are and what they want - in the face of what you might predict looking down upon the maze of their lives. They don't see the maze, just the path before them. Each character is firmly committed to it. My mom used to say, "We can't win for losing." Maybe there's a reason for that.I love this movie. The performances in it are first rate. There isn't a bad scene. My only regret is that I can't go back in time and see it again for the "first" time. It holds up really well. It's one of those movies where, if you catch it on cable, you stop what you're doing. "I just want to watch this scene." If you're not careful, you'll end up watching the rest of the movie because it's compelling. And maybe that's what's so compelling about this film. Yes, we get the pun. "Drive" is about a driver, who drives by day and drives by night. We all have our inner and outer drives. But every character in this film is animated by a hidden drive - whether it's to make money, please others, have a normal life, live in peace or be, as the song says, "a real human being, and a real hero."Film fans will recognize the similarities between this film and the James Caan classic, "Thief." There's an early scene, involving a watch, where you think this is going to be Jason Statham in The Transporter, with a virtuoso driver who lives by a Caan-like personal code. But to its credit, Gosling's character is less governed by his head than his heart. This is not a movie about people who think, let alone think it all through before they act. It's a film about people who feel, whether they're acting on fear, lust, anger or love.

Drive is interesting, but it's too slow for its own good. Most of the time is spent with the characters silently staring at each other as the cool synthpop soundtrack plays in the background. It wasn't that I was expecting an action-packed adventure - I knew what this film was going into it - but it still felt tediously drawn-out. Or maybe I shouldn't watch these types of movies when I'm sick.

This title was obviously written by a high school student who had never seen a movie made before 2000! Great news for all teenagers, because apparently they can get movies made from really basic scripts. With top notch actors, as well.Awful, awful script. Great cast and crew otherwise. But just a badly written script. That's all.