Only God Forgives

If you've seen Drive, then you should know that this movie is nothing like it, except perhaps in the fact that they are both beautifully shot. Drive had a pretty brisk pace, good dialogue, a plot that went somewhere, and a likable character.

Only God Forgives had none of that. This is a movie which moves along at a snail's pace, and even at a runtime of 90 minutes, it feels like many hours go by before even a single thing happens. Even the characters move and turn slowly.

The plot, such as it is, you would probably find worth watching, but Nicolas Winding Refn peppers it with pseudo-dream sequences and many pointless scenes that drag on for ever, so that the plot becomes hard to stay interested in.

Now, some things you might care about.

The acting. Ryan Gosling, of whom I was a fan in his earlier days, plays the same character from Drive, except that here he is indeed even more emotionless. He speaks about 5 lines during the whole movie, and has fewer different facial expressions. Kristin Scott Thomas is very good, although she feels underused. She is definitely the strong point of this movie. Vithaya Pansringarm, who plays a prominent role in the movie, is as expressionless as Gosling, although he is somewhat better, in my opinion.

Action scenes do exist, and they do resemble those from Drive, in that they are very matter-of-factly and visceral. Here, Winding Refn has really indulged in a lot of gratuitous gore, although overall, I found the action scenes quite entertaining. One particular one showcases Byron Gibson's acting talents, and it is particularly (and hilariously) cringe-worthy.

All the characters in this movie are unlikable. It is extremely difficult to get yourself to care for any of them, including Gosling's, who is arguably the protagonist here.

Aside from Scott Thomas' acting, the only other redeeming quality of this film is the excellent way in which most scenes are set up and shot. The sets, the camera movement, the placement of the actors, all of these make up for some truly gorgeous shots.

Overall, sad as I am to say it, I cannot recommend seeing Only God Forgives.

There isn't a lot of dialog because there isn't much of a plot. What there is, is at best, clumsy and predictable. I am not sure that it was even that believable.

There is however lots of silence, dark brooding nothingness, Thai Karaoke, lots of blood and questionable sexual relations of one sort or another. Perhaps these elements were supposed to fill the void. However it was not enough.

Great performances from all the cast but even they couldn't save it. At times Ryan Gosling just looked lost and bewildered and I don't think he was acting. I found it annoying and pretentious.

An absolute masterpiece. My favorite movie of all time. Probably only in 30 years will the world fully appreciate it and recognize how far ahead in time it was.

I don't understand the general dislike for this film. Yeah, I heard all the reviews and admittedly, the reviews turned me away from the initial release. It didn't help it was only in my town for a week. Either way.... I low key love this film.

I love the color palate. I love the pace. I love how it creates a world completely alien to the one I live in. While the story is very basic, it is visceral. You understand how Kristin Scott Thomas commands so much fear. You understand how Julian does not want to be like her. You understand how Chang prefers to work outside the confines of law and order with his own brand of justified punishment. The motives are clear, and while the older brother Billy is way too cartoony evil, we had to quickly establish the central conflict.

The thing about such a film is this...where does art end and pretentiousness begin? I think a lot of people interpreted this more for the latter than the former, wanting a dull Tarantino style revenge epic with tons of swearing and pretentious pop culture dialogue. What they got was a neon bathed slow burn, and it worked so much better. In the end, we see why it would happen that way. Chang is brutal and even caustic, but he is fair in the dog eat dog world of the drug dealing underclass. And boy, did that ending seem satisfying.

Those who have not seen a lot of film from multiple eras and styles of film making might not get this type of feature, but that is okay. For those who know high concept, low plot type film making, this one is for you.

This film is worth watching, it is very gripping and suspenseful. There isn't much dialouge at all, it is mostly just atmospheric. The plot is relatively simple, a chain of people killing others who are then linked to someone else. The ending is left open to your imagination too. There are some really gruesome scenes in this movie but this sort of thing was needed to keep the viewer gripped on the way the story was unfolding. Ryan Gosling was a very mysterious character again (as in Drive) and he portrayed this very well. The supporting cast were also good.

Overall I found this film to be quite good, was a relatively short film but I didn't feel it was 'dragging' like some said. I preferred 'Drive' but this one is still worth a watch.

7/10