Only God Forgives (D+ or 1.5/4 stars)
What bloody, meaningless dreck. 'Only God Forgives' (written & directed by Nicolas Winding Refn) has the distinction of being the worst film I've seen Ryan Gosling in. And it's also the worst (though he's not "bad") performance that I've seen him give. It's also the worst film I've seen the great Kristin Scott Thomas in. Though, she's the best thing in this depraved motion picture. The story: Julian (Gosling), a prominent figure in the dark, criminal underworld of Bangkok, Thailand runs a shady boxing club (as a front) & a smuggling ring with his nefarious, disgusting, older brother Billy. Billy is suddenly murdered after having raped & murdered a 16 yr. old prostitute & their crime lord matriarch, Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas) soon arrives from London to bring back the body of her cherished eldest son.
When Crystal belittles Julian & forces him to settle the score with his brother's copious killers, Julian finds himself in the ultimate showdown of life & death. Bloody mayhem occurs throughout. There are young teen call-girls. There are guns, swords, knives, slicings, dicings, extractions. We see it all happen. We see the gore. We hear the nightmarish screams. And it all adds up to a whole lotta nothin'. Why should we care about Billy, the way he died, or revenge for HIM? He's a gross animal. Why should we care about Julian or the girl he's interested in? We never get to really know any of these characters. We never get to know their inner-life.
Gosling utters no more than a few sentences the entire film. He broods. And broods. Then broods some more. What we get is classic Ryan Gosling staring intensely into space for 89 languorous minutes. And when he's not staring into space, he's having gross fantasies about sexual interactions and/or reaching into corpses for innards {yes, you read that correctly}. In fact, the cadence of the film & some of those aforementioned fantasy sequences made this film feel David Lynchian, at times. But bad Lynch. You know, Gosling has presence. We know this. But he also can act. And we get to see next-to-nothing of that, here.
Nicolas Winding Refn's last film, 2011's Drive, was also a languorous mood piece. But along with a better Gosling, it had Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac, more characterization, great visuals, & an awesome soundtrack. It received amazing reviews. THIS film is a complete opposite. The only saving grace of this horror show, and the only reasons I'm giving it a D+ and not an F are for the shadowy, neon-lit cinematography ... and for Kristin Scott Thomas' biting performance as the Donatella Versace-like bitch mama. Her look, the cigarettes she smokes, the blunt language she uses, the rage with which she spews her venom towards her son, Julian -- it's all weirdly fascinating. Too bad it all goes towards a finished product as slimy, yucky, & pointless as 'Only God Forgives' is. Ridiculous, really.
When Crystal belittles Julian & forces him to settle the score with his brother's copious killers, Julian finds himself in the ultimate showdown of life & death. Bloody mayhem occurs throughout. There are young teen call-girls. There are guns, swords, knives, slicings, dicings, extractions. We see it all happen. We see the gore. We hear the nightmarish screams. And it all adds up to a whole lotta nothin'. Why should we care about Billy, the way he died, or revenge for HIM? He's a gross animal. Why should we care about Julian or the girl he's interested in? We never get to really know any of these characters. We never get to know their inner-life.
Gosling utters no more than a few sentences the entire film. He broods. And broods. Then broods some more. What we get is classic Ryan Gosling staring intensely into space for 89 languorous minutes. And when he's not staring into space, he's having gross fantasies about sexual interactions and/or reaching into corpses for innards {yes, you read that correctly}. In fact, the cadence of the film & some of those aforementioned fantasy sequences made this film feel David Lynchian, at times. But bad Lynch. You know, Gosling has presence. We know this. But he also can act. And we get to see next-to-nothing of that, here.
Nicolas Winding Refn's last film, 2011's Drive, was also a languorous mood piece. But along with a better Gosling, it had Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac, more characterization, great visuals, & an awesome soundtrack. It received amazing reviews. THIS film is a complete opposite. The only saving grace of this horror show, and the only reasons I'm giving it a D+ and not an F are for the shadowy, neon-lit cinematography ... and for Kristin Scott Thomas' biting performance as the Donatella Versace-like bitch mama. Her look, the cigarettes she smokes, the blunt language she uses, the rage with which she spews her venom towards her son, Julian -- it's all weirdly fascinating. Too bad it all goes towards a finished product as slimy, yucky, & pointless as 'Only God Forgives' is. Ridiculous, really.