Drive (2011)
83%RT Audience Score: 79%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 Oscar
79 wins & 180 nominations total
With its hyper-stylized blend of violence, music, and striking imagery, Drive represents a fully realized vision of arthouse action
Drive is the kind of movie that makes you want to rev your engine and speed off into the sunset. With Ryan Gosling at the wheel, it’s impossible not to feel a rush of adrenaline as he navigates the streets of LA. Sure, it’s violent and a bit over-the-top at times, but that’s all part of the fun. And let’s be real, who doesn’t love a good car chase? So buckle up and get ready for a wild ride.
Production Company(ies)
Anonymous Britdoc Foundation Final Cut for Real
Distributor
FilmDistrict
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Big 6 Market – 550 South Rampart Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for strong brutal bloody violence, language and some nudity.
Year of Release
2011
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:DTS Dolby Digital SDDS
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Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
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Runtime:1h 40m
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Language(s):English, Spanish
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Sep 16, 2011 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 31, 2012
Genre(s)
Action
Keyword(s)
starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac, Ron Perlman, Christina Hendricks, Kaden Leos, James Biberi, Jeff Wolfe, Russ Tamblyn, Joe Bucaro III, Tiara Parker, Tim Trella, Jimmy Hart, Tina Huang, Andy San Dimas, John Pyper-Ferguson, Craig Baxley Jr., Kenny Richards, Joe Pingue, Dieter ‘Dietman’ Busch, Joey Bucaro, Rachel Dik, Cesar Garcia, Steve Knoll, Teonee Thrash, Chris Muto, Al Goto, Ralph Lawler, Jack Axelrod, David Kency, Mac Brandt, Brian Cranston, Gigi Pritzker, Michel Litvak, John Palermo, Marc Platt, Adam Siegel, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, written by Hossein Amini, action, crime, drama, R rating, $35.1M box office, reviewed by Candice Frederick, Chris Stuckmann, David Thomson, Sara Michelle Fetters, Jim Schembri, Nicolas Rapold, Rob Aldam, Dennis Harvey, Jason Adams, James Croot
Worldwide gross: $77,187,281
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $101,616,891
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,014
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 11,081,449
US/Canada gross: $35,061,555
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $46,158,463
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,109
US/Canada opening weekend: $11,340,461
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $14,929,693
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 792
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $15,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $19,747,468
Production budget ranking: 1,375
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $10,634,012
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $71,235,412
ROI to date (est.): 234%
ROI ranking: 561
Carey Mulligan – Irene
Bryan Cranston – Shannon
Albert Brooks – Bernie Rose
Oscar Isaac – Standard
Ron Perlman – Nino
Director – Nicolas Winding Refn
Producers – Marc Platt, Adam Siegel, Gigi Pritzker, Michel Litvak, John Palermo
Writer – Hossein Amini
Director(s)
Nicolas Winding Refn
Writer(s)
Hossein Amini
Producer(s)
Marc Platt, Adam Siegel, Gigi Pritzker, Michel Litvak, John Palermo
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 Oscar
79 wins & 180 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (273) | Top Critics (76) | Fresh (253) | Rotten (20)
… Drive is a riveting watch.
September 8, 2017 | Rating: B+
Candice Frederick
Reel Talk Online
TOP CRITIC
I’ll never forget the first time I saw Drive. I’ve since never been able to replicate the experience.
April 17, 2015 | Rating: A+
Chris Stuckmann
ChrisStuckmann.com
TOP CRITIC
What it had going for it was an uncanny and moving relationship between Gosling and Mulligan.
June 24, 2013
David Thomson
The New Republic
TOP CRITIC
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.
January 27, 2012 | Rating: 4/4
Sara Michelle Fetters
MovieFreak.com
TOP CRITIC
Ultra-violent, ultra-tedious, bargain-basement rip-off of the classic 1978 Walter Hill film The Driver.
October 25, 2011 | Rating: 1/5
Jim Schembri
The Age (Australia)
TOP CRITIC
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.
October 9, 2011
Nicolas Rapold
Film Comment Magazine
TOP CRITIC
One of the most iconic and stylish films of the twenty-first century
June 2, 2022
Rob Aldam
Backseat Mafia
…with no end of great, if ludicrous, fight choreography and stunt work, it is a guilty pleasure for action fans par excellence…
February 24, 2022
Dennis Harvey
48 Hills
Action buffed down to its essence and serving the purpose of an emotional reaction rather than a strictly visceral one
January 10, 2022
Jason Adams
My New Plaid Pants
Working from Hossain Amini’s compelling, “driving” narrative script, director Refn delivers a masterclass in mood creation, playing with camera angles, shadows, film speed and sound to keep the audience fully engrossed.
December 8, 2021 | Rating: 4.5/5
James Croot
Stuff.co.nz
Drive’s bravura opening highlighted that there’s more than one way to execute a nail-biting car chase, especially when operating on an indie budget.
September 20, 2021
Miles Surrey
The Ringer
Nicolas Winding Refn had an extremely distinct vision and saw something different in rom-com heartthrob Ryan Gosling. And when those two things collided, damn, was it cool.
July 28, 2021
Nathan Mattise
Ars Technica…
Plot
This action drama follows a mysterious man who has multiple jobs as a garage mechanic, a Hollywood stuntman and a getaway driver seems to be trying to escape his shady past as he falls for his neighbor – whose husband is in prison and who’s looking after her child alone. Meanwhile, his garage mechanic boss is trying to set up a race team using gangland money, which implicates our driver as he is to be used as the race team’s main driver. Our hero gets more than he bargained for when he meets the man who is married to the woman he loves.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
NA
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