DVD & BluRay

DRIVE: SPECIAL EDITION

Second Sight, cert 18; Bluray £15.99

The company specialising in meticulously updating classic films for collectors, has succeeded in improving one of the coolest noir crime dramas.

Drive, which steered Ryan Gosling to stardom, comes in an eye-catching new Blu-ray box featuring a golden scorpion charm.

Extras include a new audio commentary from director Nicolas Winding Refn plus insights from the film’s technical experts on how it was shot. And it was beautifully shot with splashes of neon colour highlighting Gosling’s chiselled features as the nameless movie stunt driver turned getaway wheel man. who waits with his car’s big muscle engine throbbing for a criminal client to dive in, before screaming off with smoking tyres, outrunning cop cars through city streets.

Gosling and the tempo of Drive reminded me in many ways of Steve McQueen in Bullitt. We learn little of the driver’s background but it doesn’t matter, we’re pulled along by fast moving events after the driver gets close to his vulnerable neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her young son. She’s nervous about the imminent release of her violent husband Standard (Oscar Isaac) from prison with good reason, and it’s when Standard draws the driver into his criminal connections there’s an explosion of violence that’s shockingly, but effectively, at odds with the previously chilled atmosphere of the movie. For an

even better ride on the edge of darkness you can update to the 4K UHD version with terrific Dolby Atmos sound at £24.99, or go the whole hog with a superb 4K boxset that includes the original book and art cards for £54.99. Vroom, vroom!