My favorite film. This is going to be long. On a surface level, this movie is incredibly pleasing to watch. The opening scene is incredible. The amount of characterization that is packed into the opening few minutes is brilliant, and Refn's ability to build tension and releasing said tension in a burst of cathartic action is on full display. The elevator scene is similarly impressive. The juxtaposition of the beautiful kiss that the Driver and Irene share with the extreme violence that follows is a disorienting experience that leaves you both emotional and too shocked to properly express that emotion.

The story works on multiple levels, with my favorite interpretation being that this film is a criticism of the audience's tendency towards the fetishization of violence. Refn has stated in interviews that all of his films are about his fetishes, and when you apply that view to his films, you can see his work in a wholly different light.

Refn presents the audience with what it believes it wants, and pushes these desires to an extreme conclusion, leaving doubt as to whether or not we as movie-goers, really should be desiring to see such things on-screen. This is where his ability to create tension comes in. Refn is is so restrained in his use of action after the opening scene that the audience should become frustrated, to the point where any excitement should give it relief. But Refn's violence is so grotesque and excessive in each of these scenes that it causes you, the viewer, to question your own desire to see action if such gore is the end result. At the start of the film, the Driver is much like the audience, convinced of the images of romance, violence, etc. that Hollywood presents to us (his work as a stunt driver is no coincidence). But throughout the movie, as he is introduced to the realities of his relationship with Irene (and its impossibility) as well as the realities of his violent persona, he becomes increasingly aware of the folly of his initial beliefs.

Although I am not entirely sure of Refn's true intentions with this film, I find it endlessly interesting to analyze and to interpret. Again, it is my favorite film.