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Only God Forgives (18)

Only God Forgives (18)

Crime, Drama, Thriller

Julian, a drug-smuggler thriving in Bangkok's criminal underworld, sees his life get even more complicated when his mother compels him to find and kill whoever is responsible for his brother's recent death.


The critical consensus

Much has been made of the film’s excruciating scenes of violence and implied misogyny and Refn does seem to revel in a kind of unnecessarily macho viciousness here, but these issues are the least of the film’s myriad problems.

**(*)(*)(*)Anna Rogers, The List, 16/07/2013

Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive follow-up boasts plenty of lurid ultraviolence but precious little originality.

John Patterson, The Guardian, 27/07/2013

It’s stylishly shot but nasty, sickeningly violent and, above all, extremely dull.

**(*)(*)(*)Henry Fitzherbert, Daily Express, 31/07/2013

It's a fascinating film, and it deserves to be seen.

*****Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 01/08/2013

Experimental 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.

*****Damon Wise, Empire Online.

More of an abstract mood piece than a traditional narrative film, Only God Forgives is bound to disappoint those looking for either a conventional slice of Ryan Gosling or another Drive. Certain to split opinion down the middle, it’s both a frustrating experience and impressively stylish.

***(*)(*)Stephen Carty, Flix Capacitor, 02/08/2013

The result is a pastiche of Asian martial fights, chic non-erotica and clueless offensiveness. Even God might find this grimly mannered mess unforgiveable.

*(*)(*)(*)(*)Siobhan Synnot, The Scotsman.

Strip away the noirish lighting and the high-end production design and you have a boring revenge melodrama without character development, emotional impact or moral nuance. If your idea of fun is watching Ryan Gosling sleepwalk through Bangkok, then this could be for you. But take something along to occupy the hellish longueurs in between.

*(*)(*)(*)(*)Anthony Quinn, The Independent, 01/08/2013

Judged purely as an exercise in cinematic high-style, it is an unqualified success. But it is almost literally soulless.

***(*)(*)Laurence Phelan, The Independent, 02/08/2013

Its visceral visions are too stylishly realised for Only God Forgives to go down as an abject failure, but it comes disappointingly close.

**(*)(*)(*)Chris Buckle, The Skinny, 02/08/2013


Features about Only God Forgives (18)

Only God Forgives is like doing hardcore acid

Claire Black, The Scotsman, 28/07/2013

Where and when?

General release. Check local listings for show times.

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