Only God Forgives
Ryan Gosling and director Nicolas Winding Refn reunite after 2011's Drive, with this violent, Bangkok-set revenge thriller. Julian (Gosling) is tasked with avenging his brother's death, but a mysterious, unhinged policeman is following his every move.
Julian lives in exile in Bangkok where he runs a Thai boxing club as a front for his family's drugs smuggling operation. When Julian’s brother Billy is killed, their mother Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas) arrives in the city. She wants revenge and forces Julian to find the killer. Julian's contacts in the criminal underworld lead him directly to The Angel of Vengeance, a retired police officer who is both judge and punisher. Crystal demands that Julian kill The Angel of Vengeance, an act that will cost him dearly.
- Director:
- Nicolas Winding Refn ('Drive', 'Bronson', 'Pusher')
- Writer:
- Nicolas Winding Refn
- Cast:
- Ryan GoslingKristin Scott ThomasTom BurkeYayayingVithaya PansringarmByron GibsonJoe Cummings
Reviews & comments
Flicks, Tony Stamp
flicksTaking out the Trash
As the ultimate mother/bitch from hell, Kristin Scott Thomas proves you can take the trash out of the trailer park but you can't take the trailer park out of the trash... She just drags it around with her creating hell wherever she hauls up. The moment I saw the dedication (to Alejandro Jodorowsky) I had an idea what I might be in for with this flick and I...
One of the strangest movies to come out this year.
Nicholas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling team again, in what may well be one of the strangest movie's to come out this year. People expecting to watch "Drive 2", the director-actor's first collaboration will be disappointed. It would be too easy to criticise Only God Forgives for being a movie devoid of a plot. In fact the narrative is relatively ho-hum....
Not worth it
I'll start by saying I think the film was visually beautiful, albeit a little dark, but that was the mood of the film. Could it get darker? Visually entrancing with muted colours and slow motion scenes which climax with a jolt. If you think Ryan Gosling's handsome physique & face might soothe you through the revolting graphic sadistic scenes, think again....
Great cinematography and imagery but overly gruesome
Positives: Great performance by Kristin Scott Thomas who stands head and shoulders above the other actors. Stunning cinematography and imagery - the dragon wallpaper in the apartment is visually spectacular. Downsides: Quite slow. Overly gruesome. No likeable characters.
Only Kubrick Forgives
Violent, beautiful, choreographed, cold, distant, thoughtful, philosophical... I love Refn's work. 'Drive', 'Bronson' and the 'Pusher' trilogy are superb, but this is a tough one to like. It sure looks gorgeous, but if it's Hollywood cliche you're seeking - go see 'Fast & Furious 26' instead. Right from the start, when Gosling's bro says "Time to meet the...
An hour and a half of our lives we'll never get back
My partner and I kept waiting for the movie to go somewhere, or for some kind of story line, but it never eventuated. It was a movie about nothing. Like they tried to copy Quentin Tarantino, but to no avail. Would suggest you don't waste your time going to see this.
good looking
Once again, Refn makes a bold impression. The cinematography, music and production design is all so impressive. I was well absorbed, and tense throughout - the sense of menace is vivid. A great genre piece, I just wish for a little more in the way of script, and less in the way of explicit violence. Whether this might transform it into a lesser film, i'm...
Variety
pressKristin Scott Thomas easily upstages Ryan Gosling's near-catatonic turn... an exercise in supreme style and minimal substance.
Total Film
pressIt’s no "Drive," and even hardcore fans will struggle to love a film that’s as mad as a bag of prawn crackers, but as an exercise in style, it has many moments to savour.
Time Out
pressStyle over substance doesn’t really tell the half of it: you can bathe a corpse in groovy light and dress it in an expensive suit, but in the end that rotting smell just won’t go away.
The Guardian
pressOnly God Forgives will, understandably, have people running for the exits, and running for the hills. It is very violent, but Winding Refn's bizarre infernal creation, an entire created world of fear, really is gripping. Every scene, every frame, is executed with pure formal brilliance.
The Dissolve
pressOnly God Forgives suffers from the disconnect between its stylistic high-art archness and its content’s pulp gratuitousness. Refn gives every sequence a hushed consideration, but there’s rarely a sense that he’s earned it with equivalent profundity in theme.
Hollywood Reporter
pressA menacingly atmospheric mood piece that will not disappoint devotees of the Nicolas Winding Refn church of fetishistic hyper-violence.
FilmInk
pressProvided that you can stomach its excesses, it's an unforgettable and weirdly rewarding excursion into violent fantasy.
Empire Magazine
pressExperimental and uncompromising, Winding Refn and Gosling’s Drive follow-up is a tripped-out riff on the crime family movie in which The Grifters — literally — go to hell.
Flicks, Tony Stamp
flicksVariety
pressKristin Scott Thomas easily upstages Ryan Gosling's near-catatonic turn... an exercise in supreme style and minimal substance.
Total Film
pressIt’s no "Drive," and even hardcore fans will struggle to love a film that’s as mad as a bag of prawn crackers, but as an exercise in style, it has many moments to savour.
Time Out
pressStyle over substance doesn’t really tell the half of it: you can bathe a corpse in groovy light and dress it in an expensive suit, but in the end that rotting smell just won’t go away.
The Guardian
pressOnly God Forgives will, understandably, have people running for the exits, and running for the hills. It is very violent, but Winding Refn's bizarre infernal creation, an entire created world of fear, really is gripping. Every scene, every frame, is executed with pure formal brilliance.
The Dissolve
pressOnly God Forgives suffers from the disconnect between its stylistic high-art archness and its content’s pulp gratuitousness. Refn gives every sequence a hushed consideration, but there’s rarely a sense that he’s earned it with equivalent profundity in theme.
Hollywood Reporter
pressA menacingly atmospheric mood piece that will not disappoint devotees of the Nicolas Winding Refn church of fetishistic hyper-violence.
FilmInk
pressProvided that you can stomach its excesses, it's an unforgettable and weirdly rewarding excursion into violent fantasy.
Empire Magazine
pressExperimental and uncompromising, Winding Refn and Gosling’s Drive follow-up is a tripped-out riff on the crime family movie in which The Grifters — literally — go to hell.
Taking out the Trash
As the ultimate mother/bitch from hell, Kristin Scott Thomas proves you can take the trash out of the trailer park but you can't take the trailer park out of the trash... She just drags it around with her creating hell wherever she hauls up. The moment I saw the dedication (to Alejandro Jodorowsky) I had an idea what I might be in for with this flick and...
One of the strangest movies to come out this year.
Nicholas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling team again, in what may well be one of the strangest movie's to come out this year. People expecting to watch "Drive 2", the director-actor's first collaboration will be disappointed. It would be too easy to criticise Only God Forgives for being a movie devoid of a plot. In fact the narrative is relatively ho-hum....
Not worth it
I'll start by saying I think the film was visually beautiful, albeit a little dark, but that was the mood of the film. Could it get darker? Visually entrancing with muted colours and slow motion scenes which climax with a jolt. If you think Ryan Gosling's handsome physique & face might soothe you through the revolting graphic sadistic scenes, think again....
Great cinematography and imagery but overly gruesome
Positives: Great performance by Kristin Scott Thomas who stands head and shoulders above the other actors. Stunning cinematography and imagery - the dragon wallpaper in the apartment is visually spectacular. Downsides: Quite slow. Overly gruesome. No likeable characters.
Only Kubrick Forgives
Violent, beautiful, choreographed, cold, distant, thoughtful, philosophical... I love Refn's work. 'Drive', 'Bronson' and the 'Pusher' trilogy are superb, but this is a tough one to like. It sure looks gorgeous, but if it's Hollywood cliche you're seeking - go see 'Fast & Furious 26' instead. Right from the start, when Gosling's bro says "Time to meet...
An hour and a half of our lives we'll never get back
My partner and I kept waiting for the movie to go somewhere, or for some kind of story line, but it never eventuated. It was a movie about nothing. Like they tried to copy Quentin Tarantino, but to no avail. Would suggest you don't waste your time going to see this.
good looking
Once again, Refn makes a bold impression. The cinematography, music and production design is all so impressive. I was well absorbed, and tense throughout - the sense of menace is vivid. A great genre piece, I just wish for a little more in the way of script, and less in the way of explicit violence. Whether this might transform it into a lesser film, i'm...
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