Well, tbf you're comparing an arthouse action cum neo-noir flick to, from what I can tell, a stock Hollywood action film.
The beauty in Drive is its simplicity and there is also nuance to a lot of the acting performances.
I haven't seen any other Refn film besides Bronson which I thought was pretty boring. To me it was Hardy fighting with random montages to the Glass Candy song sprinkled in.
Refn did the Pusher trilogy which I encourage you to watch.
Dark atmosphere, good acting and great tension throughout the 3 movies : it's about Denmark's underworld and each movie follows one person who tries to survive through his hustle. Watch it in order because the flicks are connected and some characters appears all movies. The second flick is the best one to me because the music fitted perfectly the ambience.
Beware though, there is a "bollywood" version of the first Pusher which is litterally a copy/paste (scene for scene) with some mystic hindu bullshyt at the end that you shouldn't watch because it's too garbage (acting, music, everything).
I unfortunately watched that one before watching the real Pusher 1, and my Pusher experience was kinda ruined
I mean all the way, I was like "why the hell is that happening in London ? And why are they talking about the cricket WC ? Isn't it supposed to describe Copenhagen ?!", then at the credits there was no Refn and I ended up like "fookin Pakis !" ( no hate though).
He aslo did Valhalla Rising but this movie was too weird to me, so no advice on this one :hyena: