Drive ☆☆☆☆½

I think I may have fallen in love with Ryan Gosling all over again.

Aaaaaaaaand that is all I can say without MAJOR SPOILERS. Lets just say: surprisingly violent, interesting musical score that meant a half a star down from me being desperate to watch again, utterly engaging, and beautifully acted by all those involved - but especially Ryan Gosling and his smile.

So don't read the review below if you haven't seen the film, I'm not even going to put a synopsis up because I feel if I had known less about the plot I would have enjoyed it more.

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I had a pretty good idea I was going to enjoy this film, didn't think I would become quite so hooked as I did which was really quite naive of me considering I have mentioned in past reviews about the power of Ryan Gosling. When that man smiles I smile. He is a beautiful actor and not just aesthetically, he hardly speaks at all in this film but even just saying 'hi' creates so much atmosphere.

The film did surprise me with the level of violence, though its 18 rating should have given me some clue. The juxtaposition of the calm beauty of his first and only kiss with Irene, with the Driver's brutal take down of the unnamed bad guy and the smashing of his skull had such power over me. I was lost in the moment, as Irene was too, then I saw a man's head disintegrate which brought me sharply back into the violence and reality of what has been happening.

I really loved that we never find out the name of the Driver. As with Kill Bill a lot of curiosity is created by not naming a person, making the audience question every move they make, how they came to be in this situation, and why the hell can they fight like that?! Evidently Driver has a dark past, living in a grey present, and has a potentially black future ahead of him. The shards of light in his present are of course in the form of a love interest, the lovely Irene played by the equally lovely Carey Mulligan.

Mulligan is a star in young British talent. Along with Emily Blunt she can do funny, romantic, and heartbreaking. She can also do a convincing American accent, and was in quite possibly my favourite Doctor Who episode ever - Blink. I loved Irene in this film, she was trapped in a marriage to a felon and she falls for the boy next door. The boy next door accidentally assists in the murder of her husband and reveals himself to be quite a capable killer himself - poor Irene. And yet, she still knocks on his door at the end though he tells her he will be gone, because she wants the boy next door for herself no matter what he has done. If a boy ever kisses me in an elevator like Gosling does and slows down time, even if he smashes in peoples skulls for a living I would still knock on his door....I think. I'll get back to you on that.

Ryan Gosling was quite simply extraordinary. He carries this film with broad shoulders and an understated brilliance. I just love him. Yep that's it, I love him, he acts well, he makes me smile, and was scary violent in this film.

The death scenes were vivid and shocking and actually seeing Christina Hendricks get her head blown off was awful. Where other directors would cut away from the scene to keep the rating down and therefore get a bigger theatre going audience, Nicolas Winding Refn keeps all the blood and gore in. It would look ridiculous if the tone of the film were not so dark, and I imagine arterial blood really does spurt like that.

The musical score was sometimes a little heavy handed, hence me not giving this film five stars. Music often indicates what is about to happen and I felt it sometimes gave the game away during this film.

Apart from this I loved the film, to the point I'm considering it to join my DVD shelf as a film to make people pause after they get past all the Disney movies and chick flicks.