Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Only God Forgives (2013)

[tries to be something its not]


Only God Forgives (2013)
IMDB- 6.4
RottenTomatoes- 35%
RJG Ratings- 25

A mother requests her son to avenge his brothers death.

Starring- Ryan Gosling,Vithaya Pansringarm
Director- Nicolas Winding Refn

The acting is pretty much solid ,but it does have some flaws.Leading the way is Ryan Gosling who gives a very good job.BUT there are flaws which i can only put the blame on the director,more on that later.Vithaya Pansringarm who plays the cop, is brilliant and is the highlight of this movie.He brings peace as well as terror in plenty of scenes.In my opinion ,Vithaya is the lead in this movie rather than Ryan.Kristin Scott is another highlight ,and gives a good performance as a villain.

The story.Its simple but is drowned in a sea of over the top symbolism.The story is at most times wierd and empty.Any signs of a coherent story begins in the second half.The first half is empty with long silent shots.Not to mention the weird dream sequences.The lack of dialogues really kill this movie since it would have made the movie better by 10 times atleast.

The direction by Nicolas is a big fail.He tries to create a movie that boasts of some deep psychological meanings ,but instead creates one long boring violent movie which has nothing good to offer.He made Ryan's character completely useless and one sided.The character could have been armed with some dialogues but instead we have Ryan seriously at the edge of going over the top.The pacing is very slow.The first half is confusing and irrational.Only God Forgives had huge potential but Nicolas ruins it ,with too many silent scenes and unnecessary violence.

On the positive side ,theres some great looking scenes.Like the Ryan vs Vithaya fight ,the interrogation scene at the club,plus some excellent cinematography.But its sad that its wasted in this type of a movie.

Overall ,Only God Forgives is NOT for the casual viewers AT ALL.Fans of Nicolas & Ryan's earlier collaboration DRIVE ,can sit through this.The movie tries so hard to be over the top Artistic ,but it just doesnt match up.

Acting- 2/5
Story- 1.5/5
Direction- 2/5
Action- 3/5
Drama- 2/5
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