Drive

Ryan Gosling is one of those actors that comes along once in a while that just intrigues you so much that you'll see him in just about anything because he'll put that little zip in his performance that will keep you riveted, such as "Fracture", "Half Nelson", Lars and the Real Girl", "The Notebook", even "Crazy, Stupid Love".

This is about a Hollywood stunt driver/performer (Gosling) who moonlights as a wheelman who discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist that got turned upside down. He befriends his neighbor, Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her son, Benecia (Kaden Leos) and comes to realize that her husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac) is in prison and is soon being released. After his release, he is faced with owing a huge debt he racked up in prison, so Driver (Gosling) offers to be the wheelman only so he can pay these thugs off and that will be the end of his criminal activity. This, of course, is all being done without Irene's knowledge. An accomplice is used, Blanche (Christina Hendricks) and Driver's Work associate, Shannon (Bryan Cranston) who gets him stunt gigs is in on it. Suffice it to say, it goes completely awry. Who's the brains to this? This might give it away.

Others to round out the cast are Albert Brooks as Bernie Rose, Ron Perlman as Nino, and Russ Tamblyn as Doc.

This was rivetedly paced by director Nicolas Winding Refn ("Pusher" '96, "Bleeder" '99, "Fear X" '03, "With Blood on My Hands: Pusher II" '04, "I'm the Angel of Death: Pusher III" '05, "Bronson" '08, "Valhalla Rising" '09). It was quirkily written by Hossein Amini ("Jude" '96, "The Wings of the Dove" '97, "The Four Feathers" '02, "Killshot" '08, "Shanghai" '10). I'm not sure that the script was quirky or was it Gosling's performance that gave it that quirky, odd feeling. Or maybe it was a combination.

The trailer doesn't sell this film. If it didn't star Gosling, I might not have seen this, because the trailer gave it the feeling that it was like any other action, explosive, guy type flick we've all seen too many times. But it wasn't! It actually had substance, an oddness to it that just made it so intriguing that you couldn't keep your eyes off it.

Out of 4 stars: 3.5                   Rated: R                       100min.