I think a lot of Tim's leading men echo Indiana Jones in a lot of ways, constantly getting the shit kicked out of them, pulling out the gun, finding it unloaded and running away to hope the bad guy gets shredded by a propeller in a stroke of serendipity.
There are several moments where Tully resembles Mal Reynolds. To quote my wife, sort of a "Capt. Tightpants meets 'A History of Violence.'"
I don't mean that as a bad thing ... I'm actually rather captivated, and Nathan Fillion does it so damned well.
But yeah, there's a lot of "Drive" that I'd see as classic Minear ... characters dying (the bit with Susan surprised me, although I hadn't gotten to know her so well that I was terribly affected yet. Whereas John Trimble's inevitable death? I'm already braced for that.) Quippy dialouge that doesn't sound like Joss' quippy dialouge, and characters that reveal themselves under Niska-like conditions.
The pace, however, is faster than anythign I've previously seen by him. (And neither "Firefly" nor "Wonderfalls" were slow IMHO. After the premiere, my wife said "Tim never wants to hear the words 'there's not enough action' from a network exec again, does he?"