Review of Only God Forgives (2013) by R96Sk — 01 Mar 2022

It has all the ingredients that I'd usually love in a film, but the pacing lets it down for me.

'Only God Forgives' is pretty dark and strikingly gory, with the stylish cinematography really shining through to set the right tone. Ryan Gosling, meanwhile, is good in a role which is similar to his one in 2011's 'Drive', which was also directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. Kristin Scott Thomas is solid, though I couldn't get away from the thought that her character was made to be portrayed by Toni Collette. Vithaya Pansringarm plays it cool as his character.

All in all, I enjoyed it. I just didn't love it. It's a little too stop/start for my liking, as in it felt like I was watching a series of events as opposed to a fully fleshed out plot; I don't mean that the scenes feel unconnected, it just feels like every scene is too much its own thing in terms of storytelling.