Review of Only God Forgives (2013) by Prodigy2013 — 25 Aug 2013

Hot off the exceptional ‘Drive’, Nicolas Winding Refn’s ‘Only God Forgives’ proved to be a very disappointing follow up. Ryan Gosling plays Julian, the owner of a Thai boxing club (a cover for his drug dealing), who seems unusually uninterested with everything that is happening around him; and that includes his duty to avenge his brother’s murder.

Clearly, Gosling watched countless zombie movies as prep work to get into character. In any case, the man behind it all was Winding Refn, whose vision was clear, but poorly conceived. He made a gruelingly violent movie, with very little going on beyond its bloody yet glossy surface.

The plot was standard, and the narrative was not very intelligent; in addition, none of the characters are motivated by any real depth or meaning. They only act according to the way they were written; and I must say they were very thinly written.

Being art directed and photographed to death, you can just imagine how visual striking this movie was; but even that isn't legitimate reason to waste your time on this lifeless piece of work. If you’re going to watch it for one thing, watch it for Kristin Scott Thomas’ scenery chewing performance as Ryan Gosling’s character’s diabolical mother, who urges him to take revenge.

Her campy vampy turn, though cartoonish, was the only memorable thing on the screen, and that’s probably the best thing I can say about this movie. Too bad she didn't have more screen time.