Directed by: Nicolas Winding Refn
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston
Rating: R
100 minutes

Ryan Gosling stars in "Drive." (Courtesy photo)

Finally, a movie that gets the glitzy, dangerous Los Angeles vibe just right. As early as "Sunset Boulevard" and as recently as "The Lincoln Lawyer," filmmakers have gone after that intense Hollywood atmosphere, but "Drive" does it better than any movie in recent memory. Go figure, then, that it was directed by a little-known Danish filmmaker.

This bloody crime thriller stars Ryan Gosling ("Blue Valentine") as a nameless driver who works in an auto shop and does movie stunts by day, driving getaway cars by night to make a little extra money. An extremely quiet person with no family, his only friend seems to be his auto shop boss, Shannon (Bryan Cranston, TV's "Breaking Bad"), who acts as the driver's agent. When the driver meets his new neighbor, Irene (Carey Mulligan, "An Education"), he ever so slightly comes out of his shell to bond with her. But she's married, and her husband is coming back from jail soon, thereby stifling any romance between Irene and the driver. He still likes her, though, and is willing to help her out however he can.

Well, it turns out her husband is on bad terms with some L.A. mobsters and owes some money. The driver tries to help, if only to help Irene, but a botched heist leads the driver into a vicious circle of violence and lies. Suddenly defending his own life, the driver is forced to become a hard-hearted killer. It doesn't matter, though; the only person he really cares about keeping on his side is Irene. But what would she say if she found out?

Director Nicolas Winding Refn ("Valhalla Rising") handles the world of "Drive" with the utmost care, pulling us into the streets of L.A. with a slow style, calm precision in the camera shots, and a soundtrack that fits the mood perfectly. This is a nearly flawless slow-cooker thriller, one that could bring Refn to prominence. Unfortunately, the story itself is uneven and, try as he might, Refn can't contain the absurdity of the latter half of the movie. Hossein Amini's ("The Wings of the Dove") screenplay starts slow, but in the blink of an eye, "Drive" turns into one of the most gratuitous bloodbaths I've ever seen. Refn, for his part, embraces the violence to such a degree that even Quentin Tarantino would flinch. There are stabbings, shootings, car crashes, and, the clear favorite at the theater where I saw the movie, a particularly over-the-top kicking incident in an elevator. (The audience began to laugh, it was so extreme.)

The actors can only look on as Refn's grisly world unfolds. Ryan Gosling plays up the darkness and mysteriousness of his character, perhaps even a bit too much. (Really, this guy is quieter than Calvin Coolidge. And Coolidge has been dead for decades.) An actor who always seems to get lead roles but ends up being forgotten anyway (except by teenage girls), Gosling won't find this to be his breakout role. Though he fares better than Carey Mulligan, whom we only occasionally see; she is the somewhat weak reminder that, in case you forgot, there was a reason for all the bloodshed. And Cranston, one of the stronger actors in the movie, playing one of the more interesting characters, doesn't get enough screen time.

The actors are all good, to be sure, and they are worthy of praise, but they're small compared to their surroundings. Christina Hendricks (TV's "Mad Men") and Albert Brooks ("Broadcast News") make guest appearances, but our time with them is so brief as to be insignificant. They are important to the plot, but it's as if they're pawns in the world Refn creates for them, as opposed to players in it.

By all means, that could be exactly what Refn wanted. "Drive" is one hell of an atmospheric movie, so why shouldn't the characters' surroundings control them, instead of the other way around? It's almost as if we're watching a bad dream unfold, but for some reason we love to watch it. All absurdity aside, this is a triumph of style for Nicolas Winding Refn, a thriller you'd be hard-pressed to beat, and definitely the right way to end the summer.

Danny Eisenberg is a 2010 graduate of the Bromfield School and is currently a student at the University of Pennsylvania.