Drive

... Drive is a riveting watch.

I'll never forget the first time I saw Drive. I've since never been able to replicate the experience.

What it had going for it was an uncanny and moving relationship between Gosling and Mulligan.

Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive is an ambient mood piece that his you like a shot of nitroglycerine enhanced adrenaline yet goes down as smoothly as an expensive slug of single-malt.

Ultra-violent, ultra-tedious, bargain-basement rip-off of the classic 1978 Walter Hill film The Driver.

While you could lean back and nod along to Refn's posturing, the film plays more like an exercise in turn-of-the-Eighties nostalgia, a movie-length strong-silent swagger inspired by the art on a VHS box.

Director Nicolas Winding Refn infuses an amalgam of several standard stories with an unassailable armor of cool to protect the indefatigable loneliness at its center.

Drive is basically the coolest movie ever. Its dreamlike, electronic soundtrack -- perfect for travel at night -- layers meaningful messages into a violent fairy tale about an unconventional hero.

A patient, Jean-Pierre Melville-esque character study with flourishes of action. But it's more about atmosphere than adrenaline.

Refn affirms his talents as a genre filmmaker and indulges in excesses and clichés reminiscent of '70s and '80s productions. [Full review in Spanish]