Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling teamed up for an arthouse-esque action film brimming with style that also delivers gut-punching thrills and memorable characters imbued with clear ambitions and fears. Gosling, then known as a romantic lead, plays a Hollywood stunt driver by day who moonlights as a wheelman for criminals by night. A loner by nature, the Driver becomes the target for LA’s most dangerous men after aiding the ex-convict husband (Oscar Isaac) of the beautiful neighbor he’s fallen in love with (Carey Mulligan). The ensuing carnage, high-speed chases, and pulsing 80’s-style synth score managed to both pay homage to predecessors such as Bullitt, The Driver, and Thief and elevate the film to one of 2011’s most popular and well-reviewed films.