Film Review: Only God Forgives

Director: Nicholas Winding Refn

The much anticipated followup to the 2011 hit Drive unsurprisingly saw Ryan Gosling team up with writer and director Nicholas Winding Refn for the second time. What is produced is something that is similar to Drive in numerous ways, stylish and violent with a superb soundtrack provided by Cliff Martinez, but in reality is so different to its predecessor. The violence portrayed here is extreme in some cases and will certainly not to appeal to the squeamish amongst us.

Julian (Ryan Gosling) 

Julian (Ryan Gosling) runs a kick boxing club in the centre of Bangkok which is actually a front for a drug smuggling ring, his rather peaceful existence is brutally interrupted when his brother, Billy (Tom Burke) rapes and kills an underage prostitute. He hands himself into the police but Lieutenant Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm), also known as the Angel of Vengeance, decides to release Billy to the father of the prostitute he kills who beats him to death with a chair. Julian's mother Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas) insists that he seek revenge for his death but Julian isn't so easily persuaded.

The immediate thoughts that hit you as you watch Only God Forgives, aside from the violence, is the stark contrast between the grubby and dirty places that the characters frequent pitched against the bright neon lighted bars. Once again Refn produces some stunning and stylish visuals as a backdrop for the mayhem that ensues off the back of one mans actions, Julian's brother Billy's actions of killing an underage prostitute seemed rather odd and unexplained until the film develops and a subtle undercurrent of complicated abuse becomes apparent with the appearance of Crystal as well as the seemingly bizarre scene with Mai in the brightly lit bar.

Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas) is superb as the domineering mother

Gosling was without doubt the star of Drive but hear his second rendition of the quiet and brooding lead is surpassed by the quiet brutality of Vithaya Pansringarm as Chang but even more so by foul mouthed mother of his played by Kristin Scott Thomas. Refn couldn't have cast an actress whose reputation for being a classy and well respected person was more at odds with her character in the film but Scott Thomas is simply superb as she berates Julian for his choice of girlfriend and oddly for the size of his penis. But its in the actions of Julian that we see the dilemma he faces, did his brother deserve his fate for his actions? Is Julian growing tired of the violent world he inhabits? The constant shots of him glancing at his hands gave me the impression that he feels he has caused enough damage and is starting to feel remorseful for what had gone before.

A major complaint against this movie is the lack of character development and background, something I would vehemently disagree with. The film is based around Julian, his actions are completely explainable within the context of the film and the development of his character and back story is the subtle backdrop to the violence that dominates your thoughts. Even the actions of Chang are developed in the karaoke scenes, which at first seem out of place and strange but slowly begin to resonate with you. Refn has used an unconventional and subtle method here that requires us to put some of the pieces together ourselves.

The violence alone will be enough for critics to dislike this movie and the lack of straight forward character development may leave some feeling like they are watching a collection of set pieces but the overall ensemble is stunningly impressive when it all comes together.

3.5/4 Deeply unsettling and more complex but still succeeds with all Refn's trademarks