Review of Only God Forgives (2013) by Kyle E — 09 Sep 2013

What a complete misfire. If 2011's Drive is one of the best movie's of this decade, Director Nicolas Winding Refn's follow up, Only God Forgives, is a complete and utter disappointment. Look, I wasn't expecting Drive 2 here, but man does this movie drag out and flat out suck.

Part of the problem is that Refn is so focused on making an art house picture here that it actually hinders just about every aspect of this film, minus the excellent score (once again a re-team with Cliff Martinez, who did an excellent score with Drive). Instead you are treated to scene after scene of the characters staring at the camera, or slightly off camera. Hell, Ryan Gosling only has 17 lines of actual dialogue in this movie, which is absurd to me. Mix in a fantastically piss poor plot structure, and Only God Forgives drags on about fifty minutes way too long. And keep in mind, this film is only 90 minutes long to be exact. In fact the only two things I can say positive about this are the cinematography, and the score.

It's dark, it's brooding, but it is flat out not good. Only God Forgives has to be the biggest misfire and utter disappointment of 2013. I can only hope Refn can strike back with something better.