Can Drive even be called a "cult movie"? In a pre-Internet age Nicholas Winding Refn's stylish thriller would have made a whimper upon release, taking years to gain anything resembling notoriety. Released in 2011 however, it had found its niche-but-large audience before the end of its cinema run, becoming a pretty mainstream pick for best film of the year. That's decidedly un-cult. Heck, only three years after release it's proven so enrapturing there's been an officially-endorsed re-scoring instigated by BBC Radio 1. Still, However you want to classify it, there's no arguing that its legions of fans are onto something. An action movie for the sort of person who normally hates action movies, the overdone notion of a silent hero taking on the mob is given real class thanks to Newton Thomas Sigel's cinematography, making it one of the decade's best looking films. The real joy in that respect is seeing cars shot in an utterly obsessive, and previously unprecedented, way; in the opening scene you can't help but feel you're sat in that Chevrolet Impala right next to Ryan Gosling. On the topic of Gosling, it can't be over-stated what this film did for his career. Previously locked in the profitable-but-vapid rom-com prison, the quiet and nameless protagonist with a dark side has opened up a career that now includes The Place Beyond The Pines and work with Terrence Malick and Shane Black. Just nobody mention Only God Forgives.
