We discuss 10 movies like Drive you must watch. Add these well-recommended and highly-rated films to your watch list.
Ryan Gosling has had a pretty interesting career and has some obscure characters under his belt. Drive (2011), directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, is about a mysterious Hollywood action film stuntman who gets in trouble with gangsters when he tries to help his neighbor’s husband rob a pawn shop while serving as his getaway driver.
His job becomes useful in reality when he wants to help the young woman in his building.
Winding-Refn is known to make some of the most uncomfortable atmospheres in his films to highlight the obscurity of his lead characters. The films listed below all have one lead character who has an internal struggle, and it slowly comes out throughout the course of the film.
There are some great directors who know how to build character within the world they’ve created to have their feelings bleed into their surroundings or even be a product of their environment.
10 Movies like Drive
Nightcrawler (2014)
There’s a certain energy that some actors bring to the table, and Jake Gyllenhaal was unhinged in this one. When Louis Bloom (Gyllenhaal), a con man desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story.
This film challenges journalism and the integrity of the journalists with the angle provided for their stories.
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
The original Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott, was a sci-fi film that came out in the 80s and became a sleeper hit. Harrison Ford was a blade runner who had to pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and returned to Earth to find their creator.
In 2017, instead of Scott taking on the sequel, Denis Villeneuve made Blade Runner 2049. Young Blade Runner K’s (Ryan Gosling) discovery of a long-buried secret leads him to track down former Blade Runner Rick Deckard (Ford), who’s been missing for thirty years.
Taxi Driver (1976)
In the 70s, Martin Scorsese brought the streets of New York City to life with different stories to capture the essence of living there in the 70s.
Robert De Niro stars as Travis Bickell, who is a mentally unstable veteran working as a nighttime taxi driver in NYC, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action.
The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)
A motorcycle stunt rider (Ryan Gosling) turns to rob banks as a way to provide for his ex and their newborn, a decision that sets him on a collision course with an ambitious rookie cop navigating a department ruled by a corrupt detective. Writer-director Derek Ciandfrance creates a compelling story within a toxic environment for his characters extremely well.
Baby Driver (2017)
Writer-director Edgar Wright topped off his Cornetto trilogy and made a fun little action film with a bumping soundtrack. After being coerced into working for a crime boss, a young getaway driver named Baby (Ansel Elgort) finds himself taking part in a heist doomed to fail.
The cast includes Jamie Foxx, Eiza Gonzalez, Jon Hamm, and Lily James.
Collateral (2004)
Director Michael Mann knows how to bring the worst out of his characters, and Collateral is one of Tom Cruise’s best performances. A cab driver (Jamie Foxx) finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer named Vincent (Cruise) as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in Los Angeles.
The film does not lose momentum, and new situations arise the entire night.
The Town (2010)
If you don’t trust Ben Affleck to make a great movie, then you haven’t watched The Town. A proficient group of thieves rob a bank and hold Claire, the assistant manager, hostage. Things begin to get complicated when one of the crew members falls in love with Claire.
The action and suspense are what make this exciting to watch.
Good Time (2017)
After a botched bank robbery lands his younger brother in prison, Connie Nikas (Robert Pattinson) embarks on a twisted odyssey through New York City’s underworld to get his brother Nick (Benny Safdie) out of jail.
Before Uncut Gems, the Safdie brothers introduced the world to their style and thrilling storytelling with this film.
Shame (2011)
Steve McQueen has loved working with Michael Fassbender, and it’s not hard to see why. McQueen takes the life of Brandon (Fassbender), who’s a sex addict, and effectively places that desire in every single scene to show the addiction.
He has been struggling with this for a while, but when Brandon’s sister decides to live with him indefinitely, he spirals out of control because he doesn’t have the comfort of his own home.
Warrior (2011)
The youngest son of an alcoholic former boxer returns home, where he’s trained by his father for competition in a mixed martial arts tournament — a path that puts the fighter on a collision course with his estranged older brother. Gavin O’Conner directs a very strong boxing film because the story between the brothers transfers into the ring.
Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy face off in the ring and out of it, and the tension still holds strong.
Do you have any other recommendations for movies like Drive? Let us know in the comments.
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