Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Way back in 2011 the world was taken by storm by a little indie film called Drive. Though director Nicolas Winding Refn had been around the block a few times before, this was his first film to get huge recognition. It was nominated for numerous awards, but, disgustingly, lost most of them. I absolutely adored the film (in fact, it made my top five of 2011), so I was ecstatic when I heard that Gosling and Winding Refn were teaming up again for a potentially awesome film. The visuals for this film were phenomenal. Winding Refn has not lost his touch in the last two years. Just like Drive, he brought some beautiful style to the film. He uses lighting and odd framing to make some beautifully shots scenes. And he absolutely loves using silence too. This man really is an auteur of the highest caliber. But sadly...even the visuals couldn’t save the rest of this film.
While the writing wasn’t phenomenal and the directing was, I think it’s only fair that I mention something else that was halfway decent: the acting. I thought that most of the acting in this film was pretty good, but some just seemed out of place. Ryan Gosling, for one, was perfect, but it was probably because he was just playing his character from Drive all over again. I think that my favorite performance in this movie, though, was Vithaya Pansringarm. He plays the batshit insane cop who messes people up with a sword. He was excellent, and totally badass.
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Though it delivers on astounding artistic style, it fails to deliver a clean narrative that the audience can actually be sucked in to. Only God Forgives is a severe disappointment for anyone who was hoping that Nicolas Winding Refn would follow up Drive with an equally awesome film. Sigh.
Writing: 5/10
Directing: 7.5/10
Acting: 6.5/10
Pacing: 4/10
Rewatchability: 4/10
Score: 5.4/10
