Film: Only God Forgives

A family of criminals come up against a cop with a brutal sense of justice in this thriller from the team behind Drive.

When Billy (Tom Burke) goes looking for cheap thrills it ends in murder and events escalate when the cop on the case gives the victim’s Father a chance for retribution.

Billy’s brother Julian (Ryan Gosling) goes looking for revenge but his own morals prevent him from taking the action his Mother (Kristen Scott Thomas) demands.

Director Nicholas Winding Refn has served up another visual delight that is punctuated by explosions of violence. The film looks fantastic (great use of colours) and feels very atmospheric but too often veers off on a self-indulgent direction that makes the viewer wonder what exactly is going on.

Only God Forgives would have been so much better as a straight-forward revenge thriller but remains enjoyable thanks largely to the screen presence of Vithaya Pansringarm as the sword-wielding  supercool cop Chang.

Catch it in UK cinemas now.

Ric’s Rating: Good.

Film: Drive

A Hollywood stunt driver (Ryan Gosling) has a nice sideline as a getaway driver in this critically acclaimed thriller from director Nicolas Winding Refn (Valhalla Rising).

Gosling begins a tentative relationship with a neighbour (Carey Mulligan) but when her husband is released from prison he brings trouble with him, in the shape of thugs who reckon he owes a huge debt for protection provided. Gosling decides to help pay off the debt by being wheel man on a lucrative job but things don’t go according to plan.

This is much more than the action extravaganza I was expecting. Yes, there is violence, explosive at times, but it’s all handled majestically by Refn who delivers on the promise previously shown in the beautiful but weird Valhalla Rising (see review elsewhere here).

Gosling gives a tour-de-force performance as the quietly spoken driver who always retains an air of menace and Sons Of Anarchy / Hellboy star Ron Perlman is excellent as one of the slimy gangsters.

A film containing as much emotion and thought rarely also has the excitement that Drive delivers. Fine performances, brilliant characters, sleek visuals and a cool soundtrack make it easy to see why people where upset that this was ignored by The Oscars.

Ric’s Rating: Essential