Only God Forgives has been the movie i have been most looking forward to see so far this year. I was shocked to hear such criticism and debate about this film. It seemed like many were split on this movie either being great or a disaster. Of coarse this film will also be compared to the amazing film 'Drive'. So how does Only God Forgive compare to Refn's 'Drive'? Only God Forgives falls right in the middle. It's not an awful film but it's not all that great either. The problems lie in that there is little to no story and the film is too long and too slow. The film is beautiful to look at and very engaging and there are tons of great metaphors and read between the line moments about the god and the devil. However this film is just crushed underneath it's own weight. It's too slow and not engaging enough. Refn makes films not movies and he is clearly a talented director and he made my favourite film of last year 'drive'. Here though he seems to falter. Lots of ideas work but lots of ideas are also a mess. Many critics who panned this movie also talked about how extreme the violence is. I can easily say the violence here is really not that bad. Graphic yes, but no where near the level of violence in 'drive'. It's an easy film to hate, but really it's just disappointing cause there was so much potential here to be better. It's worth checking out, but only if you like Refn's past work. Hopefully his next project can take a few more steps forward next time around. Rating: 6 out of 10
Review of Only God Forgives
