Movie Review - Only God Forgives

Only God Forgives (2013)

Starring Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Vithaya Pansringarm

Directed by Nicholas Winding Refn

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

I'll be completely honest right up front and say that I didn't get Only God Forgives at all.  Then again, I'm not sure there was much "to get."  Blanketed in a sea of deep reds and blacks, Nicholas Winding Refn's film is well shot, but that's all it has going for it.  While it looks pretty, there's just nothing for the viewer to care about in the slightest.  The little story there is -- a man seeking revenge against the police officer who killed his older brother -- is generic, but it should at least stimulate a little bit of excitement in the viewer.  Instead, Refn (who is lensing his own screenplay) bathes his characters in an emotionless moroseness.  If they can't get riled up about anything, how in the hell am I supposed to give a damn about these characters' plights?

Ryan Gosling (who also starred in Refn's Drive) is Julian, a shady character in Bangkok's criminal underworld (although what he actually does isn't really specified), whose brother (also a shady character) is murdered thanks to a nefarious plot set up by Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm), the head police officer in the area.  When Julian's mother Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas) hears of the news, she travels from London to Bangkok in order to seek revenge for her son's death.  Julian, who heretofore was an empty, emotionless void, tries to muster up some modicum of energy to help his overbearing mother in her quest, but he finds himself depressed by the power-hungry role his mother plays in his life.

Ryan Gosling wanders around aimlessly saying next to nothing (he probably speaks ten lines throughout the entirety of the piece) while Kristin Scott Thomas chews up the scenery (in a refreshing way given the monotony of everything else) as the vicious Crystal.  Ultimately, the problem with Only God Forgives is that it's overbearingly plodding, slow, and depressing...and absolutely not worth watching.

The RyMickey Rating:  D