Review of Only God Forgives (2013) by Jordan T — 18 Nov 2013

Only God Forgives is a frustrating film and a disappointing follow-up to director Nicolas Winding-Refn's far superior film Drive . Only God Forgives succeeds in imitating the unique, neon-tinted visual style and tense mood of Drive, but it doesn't have anything to support its stylistic triumphs.

The characters are hollow, the story is painfully simplistic, and not much really happens. Like in Drive, Ryan Gosling plays a tight-lipped protagonist; this time he's Julian, a boxing club owner in Bangkok who deals drugs along with his brother Billy.

Gosling has just barely over 20 lines throughout the entire movie, taking the concept of a silent protagonist a little too far. He has no discernible personality, just a perpetual blank stare and closed mouth.

His brother Billy rapes and murders a 16 year old prostitute while in a drunken haze and, with the permission of the police, the girl's father kills Billy for his crime. Julian's and Billy's mother soon arrives in Bangkok and demands that Julian get vengeance on Billy's killer, but they quickly learn that the police officer who allowed the killing to take place is not going to make it easy for them.

Overall, Only God Forgives is just a case of style over substance. It's gorgeously filmed and the plot seems interesting enough on paper, but it ultimately ends up being a pointless effort and an unfortunately weak film from a talented director.