I never thought a crime drama with Ryan Gosling as a convincing badass and Albert Brooks as a cold-blooded mobster – and both men capable of doing some serious damage to another person without a millisecond’s hesitation – would ever exist anywhere outside the imagination of a deranged lunatic who is clearly unfamiliar with the time-honored Hollywood axiom “cast to type.”

But last year’s Drive, which was originally intended to be a big-budget formula action flick with Hugh Jackman in the lead, came out of nowhere to shatter expectations in a way that was as quick and brutal as how Gosling dispatched that one guy in the elevator scene that has now become a classic movie moment. It wasn’t a massive hit, but most of the people who saw it agreed that it was of 2011’s best films, and it even inspired the single goofiest lawsuit taken out against a movie in some time.

After Nicolas Winding Refn made a huge splash with his American debut with Drive, the director reunited with Drive star Ryan Gosling for Only God Forgives. So as soon as he is done with his newest directorial effort, Refn will apparently explore the world of violence and crime once more with an adaptation of the Button Man graphic novel.

According to Deadline, Refn is in talks with DreamWorks to adapt the John Wagner and Arthur Ranson graphic novel of the same name, which centers on an ex-mercenary named Harry Exton. Exton’s line of work has him pitted against other killers or “Button Man” in a dangerous and deadly underground sport. All the players work for a mysterious rich man only identified as Voice.

Over the past decade or so, a remake of the beloved sci-fi film Logan’s Run has been on the books. Attached with names like Bryan Singer, James McTiegue, and even Carl Erik Rinsch, no one has really been able to get the film too far off the ground.

However, now with the team of Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling aboard, this appears to be changing. THR is reporting that Andrew Baldwin has been tapped to write a new draft of the screenplay for the film, which is currently being set up over at WB.

Emma Stone.
Rose Byrne.
The talent black-hole that is Channing Tatum.
Natalie Portman.

When this year is over and done with, you’ll realize that every single movie released in 2011 headlined one of these actors, though, like you, I have yet to see Channing Tatum, actually “act” in a movie. With the exception of Tatum, seeing these stars over and over isn’t necessarily a bad thing as the projects they’ve appeared in have been good overall (sorry, Your Highness), and after October’s Ides of March, you can add Ryan Gosling to the Honorary Samuel L. Jacksons.

But before you can see Gosling and George Clooney compare abs in Ides, Gosling opens in this week’s 70ish thriller Drive. As befitting a person on the shortlist for Best Actor of His Generation, Gosling’s character in Drive is nothing like his reformed player in Crazy, Stupid Love or his possible cross-dressing murderer in last year’s excellent All Good Things. In fact, Gosling is THE reason to take the Drive, as he’s the best thing about the film, a deliberately paced (read: slow at times) throwback to 70’s noir thrillers when mood and character (read: lingering close ups) meant more than cheap gratification.

Drive
Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks, Ron Pearlman, Bryan Cranston, Oscar Isaac and Kaden Leos
Release Date: September 16, 2011

Immediately are we distanced from the majority of groggy thrillers as director Nicolas Winding Refn, working in astonishing form (he won best director award at this year’s Cannes Festival), achieves insistent thrills from the beginning of his new film Drive. Unfurling from the opening credits onward is an excellence and master-class in control and discipline that cannot be disputed. It is a simple chase scene, a getaway driver discreetly navigating a silver Chevy Impala away from the authorities, set during a gorgeously neon-lit night in the heart of Los Angeles. Refn establishes an atmosphere so distinctive that it calls to mind Mulholland Dr., a great atmospheric film with the same vindictiveness Drive has of Hollywood. Drive‘s atmosphere is one that glorifies and harbors masculinity, violence, and existential crises.