It’s taken me a while to get around to watching Ryan Gosling in Drive, I’m not sure what was holding me back, but I finally settled into this one, and I have to admit, I really dug it.

First off, let’s mention the cast that surrounds Gosling in this film, there’s not an actor that I don’t like. Gosling, the luminescent Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac, Ron Perlman, Albert Brooks, Bryan Cranston, and Christina Hendricks. Just wow!

Then there’s the way Refn deals out the story around Ryan Gosling’s Driver. Gosling plays it quiet, reticent, and patient until he’s not. The violence, when it happens, is abrupt, brutal and bloody, there’s no glorification of action here, which is wonderfully ironic as the Driver works as a stunt driver for films and moonlights as a driver for criminals pulling jobs.

He slowly becomes fascinated with his neighbour, Irene (Mulligan), and there is the hint of possibility between them, an undeniable attraction, but the return of Standard (Isaac), Irene’s just-released-from-prison-husband puts a stop to that.

Standard is in trouble from the start, as he has to pay for the protection he received in prison, and that will require a pawn shop heist. Driver agrees to help, and things go sideways for him and everyone involved until Driver finds himself on a collision course with Nino (Perlman).

Refn makes use of his entire frame and the use of the cars (the illusion versus the corruption of the American Dream), the long sweeping car windows, the camera motion all of it plays out beautifully making Drive a thinking-person’s action film.

The performances are wonderfully restrained, almost low-key, the dialogue and interiors are quiet, with the rev of the engine serving to jar the audience, to feel that rush of adrenaline that accompanies the turn of the key, the shifting of gears.

And Gosling owns the role and the screen. He’s introverted, but when it’s needed, he’s incredibly violent seemingly without a moral compass to stop him from going too far. Gosling brings the character to life fantastically, and everyone around him brings their A-game as well. And it’s so cool to see Albert Brooks play a baddie, and he does it with glee.

Backed with a synth soundtrack that seems to help lend it a bit of a throwback feel as well as maintain that quiet patient introverted nature of the film and its main character, Drive was a long overdue watch for me and ended up being incredibly enjoyable, thought-provoking and masterfully made.

I don’t have to rave about it too much, because, let’s be honest, most of you have already seen it and I’m just playing catch-up with the rest of you.