Review of Only God Forgives (2013) by Mike C — 23 Jan 2014

Gosling can't save them all. A bizarre movie that has its loyal fans, but it was not for me. I watched about half, then decided to do something else but keep it on. When the DVD started messing up, I had no pause in just ejecting it.

Not even a horrible premise: Gosling's character escapes to Asian underworld where he operates a boxing ring to cover his drug work. His scumbag brother rapes and murders a young prostitute. Some cop lets the father kill the brother, then cuts the man's arm off to "right the world." Gosling's mom shows up and demands he find the killer and exact his own revenge.

I could have dealt with that, but the movie is pretty violent and not very straight-forward. There are some odd scenes that, frankly, I just don't have the time or energy to decipher. So maybe had I finished it I'd respect it more, but it's a highly-stylized movie for one reason or another, it this one just wasn't my style.