DRIVE (A-)

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston and Albert Brooks

Rated: R
Story: Drive is the story of a Hollywood stunt driver by day, a loner by nature, who moonlights as a top-notch getaway driver-for-hire in the criminal underworld. He finds himself a target for some of LA's most dangerous men after agreeing to aid the husband of his beautiful neighbor, Irene. When the job goes dangerously awry, the only way he can keep Irene and her son alive is to do what he does best—Drive! (FilmDistrict)

Bottom Line: An absorbing, vicious, art house, action flick with a bipolar vibe that, admittedly, isn’t for everyone. DRIVE is an effectively subdued mood-piece with a methodically violent and unnerving slickness at its core. It’s a superbly crafted piece of pulp cinema that’s cool, calm and collected until – WHAM! – it surprisingly isn’t. Although a little too distant at times, the inspired mish-mash of genre styles makes it hard to resist – so in the end you’ll either buckle in for the joyride or kick this flick to the curb.