Originally Posted by
jreg
I'd recommend watching it again. The set pieces are absolutely masterful. The director creates a tangible sense of anxiousness, a feeling that anything could go wrong but never does, but somehow, he can still draw the audience in. The reference to 80s action flicks was further mirrored by "Driver", the "man with no name" as Clint Eastwood played it years ago in his own spaghetti western trilogy. Note the incredible use of lighting which reflects the main character's mood, or the state of delusion throughout where he constantly resides between his own fantasy and what is really happening - the random violence has a point. And somehow, Gosling manages to pull his role to near perfection; communicating more through nuances instead of blunt and obvious dictation. It is an absolute leviathan of a character study, twisted and daunting, revelling in the faintly present sadism.
To take this film at face value only would be, I think, a grave mistake
To suggest this does not provoke thought suggest to me you walked in expecting Transporter or Fast/Furious or something. Honestly, if that were the case, I wouldn't blame you; the advertising team fucked up pretty bad when it came to trying to convey what the film might be like.