History Film / Drive

Features a soundtrack consisting of early artists within the nascent '80s-throwback UsefulNotes/{{Synthwave}} genre. Refn would later repeat this stylistic choice for ''Film/TheNeonDemon''.

''Drive'' is a 2011 [[FilmNoir Neo Noir]] crime thriller directed by Creator/NicolasWindingRefn, based on a 2005 novel of the same name by James Sallis. Creator/RyanGosling plays [[NoNameGiven The Driver]], a stuntman/mechanic in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles who moonlights as a GetawayDriver for robberies. The Driver has isolated and detached himself from just about everyone else in the world, except his boss, Shannon (Creator/BryanCranston), and his young neighbor Irene (Creator/CareyMulligan), whom he becomes emotionally attached to. After the Driver becomes entangled in a botched heist involving money stolen from the east coast Mafia, he finds his life coming apart and must fight to stay alive and protect the people he's come to care for.

* YourCheatingHeart: Surprisingly averted. It's clear that Driver and Irene having feelings for each other but they never act on them before or after her husband returns home. [[spoiler:They kiss once later on but it's brief and after Standard has already been murdered.]]

** The Driver never cleans his jacket, walking around in broad daylight with it even when it's stained in blood. The closest he gets to cleaning it is a quick dip in the ocean when [[spoiler:he murders Nino by drowning him]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Early in the film Driver loses a staring contest with the young Benicio. This foreshadows the final scene in which Driver [[spoiler:sits motionless in his car after being stabbed by Bernie; staring for an extremely long time. The audience is unaware if he is alive or not, until he finally blinks.]]

* ArmorPiercingSlap: Irene gives The Driver one of these after [[spoiler:he admits that he was involved in the circumstances surrounding Standard's death]].

* AndStarring: Creator/AlbertBrooks

->''"If I drive for you, you give me a time and a place. I give you a five-minute window, anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours no matter what. I don't sit in while you're running it down; I don't carry a gun... I drive."''

''Drive'' is a 2011 [[FilmNoir Neo Noir]] crime thriller directed by Creator/NicolasWindingRefn, itself based on a 2005 novel of the same name by James Sallis. Creator/RyanGosling plays [[NoNameGiven The Driver]], a stuntman/mechanic in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles who moonlights as a GetawayDriver for robberies. The Driver has isolated and detached himself from just about everyone else in the world, except his boss, Shannon (Creator/BryanCranston), and his young neighbor Irene (Creator/CareyMulligan), whom he becomes emotionally attached to. After the Driver becomes entangled in a botched heist involving money stolen from the east coast Mafia, he finds his life coming apart and must fight to stay alive and protect the people he's come to care for.

** Zig-zagged with [[spoiler:Driver stomping the elevator mook's head to a pulp]]; it generally focuses on [[spoiler:Driver doing the deed]], but there's a [[FreezeFrameBonus split-second]] where [[spoiler:we see the pulpy mess his head has been reduced to, if slightly obscured by Driver's foot]].

* SoundtrackDissonance: One of the main reasons the movie is popular, really. It cuts from Cliff Martinez's quiet, abstract score or [[{{Synthwave}} ambient '80s-esque pop music]] to extremely brutal action with a silent background. Also the slow-motion scene of Driver staring into a party Nino and his goons are attending, wearing his creepy stunt mask and contemplating how he's going to kill everyone there, has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg0jOpr1Uhk this]] playing in the background.

'''Benicio:''' Because he's a shark.\\

* TheReveal: Irene sees the Driver as a nice, perhaps odd friend. [[spoiler:And then she finds herself stuck in an elevator with him and a mook. If it wasn't clear before, it becomes obvious that the Driver has a violent streak and is as dangerous as the villains of this flick.]]

* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: [[spoiler:Standard, Blanche and Shannon]] die suddenly and violently with no warning, although in the cases of [[spoiler:Standard and Shannon]] the circumstances make their deaths unsurprising in hindsight.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted when [[spoiler:Blanche's]] head gets blown off by a close-range shotgun blast.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: The Driver is a pragmatic and vicious fighter, killing one man by [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice stabbing him with a curtain rod]]. Later, while saying goodbye to his not-girlfriend, he kills a hitman with them in an elevator, going to even further extremes (doubtless his love was also his BerserkButton). She is shown to be visibly freaked out by the killing.
* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:The Driver gets stabbed in the stomach by Bernie in the end. He is left sitting in his car blanked out until his Real Hero theme song begins to play and he remains conscious enough to drive away.]]

* ShoutOut: To ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' when Driver wears the rubber mask, [[spoiler:as he kills Nino]].

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted when [[spoiler:Blanche's]] head gets blown off by close-range shotgun blast.

* DownLADrain: There's some driving down the L.A. river. Since The Driver seems to see himself as a character in a film, this is a direct nod to the trope itself.

** [[spoiler:Blanche]] getting [[YourHeadASplode a face full of buckshot]] sends the movie almost instantly from low key, character-driven romance to a considerably BloodierAndGorier RoaringRampageOfRevenge. Doubly so because the only previous on screen death had been understated.

** The film is a tribute to the more minimalist and existential crime movies of the ‘70s and '80s, by the likes of Walter Hill and Michael Mann. The film particularly echoes the 1978 Creator/WalterHill film, ''Film/TheDriver'', starring Ryan O'Neal, who played a similarly enigmatic and nonverbal driver for criminals. Shades of Michael Mann’s neon nightscapes in ''Film/{{Thief}}'' and John Boorman's daylight noir ''Film/PointBlank''are also obvious. The eighties-style, pink neon lettering in the credits is a nod to similar credits in ''Film/RiskyBusiness''.

* LatexPerfection: Realistically averted. The silicone rubber mask in the film is used for The Driver to resemble the star he's doing the stunts for. It's very high quality and makes him look like the star from a distance but becomes very UncannyValley up-close.

* TheReveal: Irene sees the Driver as a nice, perhaps odd friend. [[spoiler:And then she finds herself stuck in elevator with him and a mook. If it wasn't clear before, it becomes obvious that the Driver has a violent streak and is as dangerous as the villians of this flick.]]

* SoundtrackDissonance: One of the main reasons the movie is popular, really. It cuts from Cliff Martinez's quiet, abstract score or [[{{Synthwave}} ambient '80s-esque pop music]] to extremely brutal action with a silent background. Also the slow motion scene of Driver staring into a party Nino and his goons are attending, wearing his creepy stunt mask and contemplating how he's going to kill everyone there, has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg0jOpr1Uhk this]] playing in the background.

** To ''Film/PointBlank''. Hyperviolent detached goon goes on a silent rampage of revenge against ageing gangsters in a bright and colorful LA film noir. It's halfway an art film, too, with an ambiguous ending.
** Both characters were stuntmen who used vehicles as part of their employment, both were taken in and given a job in a low paying mechanic job where they found them selves doing a crooked sideline to make extra cash. They were also pretty soft spoken but had an air of understated charisma, and both ended up in a precarious predicament due to their criminal activity as well as getting angry with their boss/friend.

* UnfortunateNames: Shannon is described as a guy who never got a break. Apparently it started at birth, because he's saddled with a traditionally feminine name.

** The Driver in his bloodstained silver satin jacket never triggers a second glance, but considering he is hanging around movie sets in his blood stained jacket, this does make some sense.

* ArmorPiercingSlap: Irene gives The Driver one of these.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: [[spoiler:While interrogating Blanche]]

* DiegeticSwitch: Inverted. Driver exits his apartment after finishing work on a carburetor, and he notices Irene sitting outside her apartment. The narrative music switches to music being played inside Irene's apartment, muffled from being behind a closed door.

* EyeScream: Bernie jams a fork in Cook's eye.

* LeFilmArtistique: The film's detractors have criticized that the film leans more towards this at times (especially in the first half) than towards being an action thriller. This was the result of Refn and Gosling's input. It's lampshaded by Bernie:
-->I used to produce movies. In the eighties. Kind of like action films, sexy stuff. One critic called them European. I thought they were shit.

* GainaxEnding: The ending might be this depending on how you interpret it. The final scene is somewhere between the ending of [[spoiler:''Film/BeingThere'']], the [[spoiler: Dying Dream]] interpretation of the ending of ''Film/TaxiDriver'' and a surreal-ish ShoutOut to the ending of ''Film/{{Shane}}''. Basically, as the credits roll, [[spoiler:the Driver ''blinks'' after a full minute of corpse-like behavior, proceeds to twist the key and start the engine, and drive off to parts unknown while leaving the money suitcase on the ground next to Bernie's dead body. So, was he dead or not?]]

* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: Subverted. Nino asks Driver this question and the Driver answers no. Nino's response is: "You're not very good at this, are you?" However, it soon becomes clear that the Driver knows this trope but chose to ignore it because he did not want to get anyone else involved and possibly killed.

* DropTheHammer: The Driver brings along a carpenter's claw hammer and uses it to break a gangster's arms, then threatens to drive a bullet into his skull. The hammer's image has become iconic of the film, and is known for inspiring many fan-made posters [[http://th00.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2011/338/c/1/drive___poster_by_mikehorowitz-d4i61zo.jpg such as this one]] to evoke it.

Features a soundtrack consisting of early artists within the nascent '80s-throwback {{Synthwave}} genre. Refn would later repeat this stylistic choice for ''Film/TheNeonDemon''.

** It's so reminiscent of Lee Marvin's hyperviolent "silent rampage of revenge" from ''Point Blank'' you could call it a homage.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To 70s flicks like ''Film/TheDriver'' and ''Film/TaxiDriver''.

** The presence of Laurene Landon (of ''Film/ManiacCop'' fame), the synthesizer score, [[{{squick}} squicky violence]], and the gritty, neon-lit cinematography recall the 1980's exploitation films of directors like William Lustig.

** To ''Point Blank''. Hyperviolent detached goon goes on a silent rampage of revenge against ageing gangsters in a bright and colorful LA film noir. It's halfway an art film, too, with an ambiguous ending.

** The film is a tribute to the more minimalist and existential crime movies of the ‘70s and '80s, by the likes of Walter Hill and Michael Mann. The film particularly echoes the 1978 Creator/WalterHill film, ''Film/TheDriver'', starring Ryan O'Neal, who played a similarly enigmatic and nonverbal driver for criminals. Shades of Michael Mann’s neon nightscapes in ''Film/{{Thief}}'' and John Boorman's daylight noir ''Film/Point Blank''are also obvious. The eighties-style, pink neon lettering in the credits is a nod to similar credits in ''Film/RiskyBusiness''.

* {{Homage}}:
** In two forms: a tribute to the crime movies of the '80s, especially Michael Mann...and to classic Westerns like ''Shane'' and ''Film/TheSearchers'', which gets a HomageShot, complete with flipping the meaning of the original shot, to boot. [[spoiler:The innocent Irene is the one who has the door closed on her, not the criminal Driver.]] The eighties-style, pink neon lettering in the credits is a nod to similar credits in ''Film/RiskyBusiness''.
** The film eerily echoes the 1978 Creator/WalterHill film, ''Film/TheDriver'', starring Ryan O'Neal, who played a similarly enigmatic and nonverbal driver for criminals.
** The biggest inflence was John Boorman's legendary daylight noir ''Film/Point Blank''.

** To ''Point Blank''. Hyperviolent detached goon goes on a silent rampage of revenge against ageing gangsters in a bright and colorful LA film noir. It's halfway an art film, too.

** To ''Point Blank''. Hyperviolent detached goon goes on a silent rampage of revenge in a bright and colorful LA noir full of aging gangsters. It's halfway an art film, too.

** Even moreso to ''Film/Point Blank''.

''Drive'' is a 2011 [[FilmNoir Neo Noir]] crime thriller directed by Creator/NicolasWindingRefn, itself based on a 2005 novel of the same name by James Sallis. Creator/RyanGosling plays [[NoNameGiven The Driver]], a stuntman/mechanic in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles who moonlights as a GetawayDriver for robberies. The Driver has isolated and detached himself from just about everyone else in the world, except his boss, [[Creator/BryanCranston Shannon]], and his young neighbor [[Creator/CareyMulligan Irene]], whom he becomes emotionally attached to. After the Driver becomes entangled in a botched heist involving money stolen from the east coast Mafia, he finds his life coming apart and must fight to stay alive and protect the people he's come to care for.

** In two forms: a tribute to the crime movies of the '80s, especially Michael Mann...and to classic Westerns like ''Shane'' and ''TheSearchers'', which gets a HomageShot, complete with flipping the meaning of the original shot, to boot. [[spoiler:The innocent Irene is the one who has the door closed on her, not the criminal Driver.]] The eighties-style, pink neon lettering in the credits is a nod to similar credits in ''Film/RiskyBusiness''.