planthater

More punishment than pleasure: This film is a real impertinence: sheer endless dance routines, therefore plenty of bare skin, but no plot and zero suspense. Criswell babbles nonsense in one go, while the mummy and the wolfman are jumping around as if they are one sandwich short of a picnic. Not to mention the talentless "actors". It's a miracle that I even managed to get through these seemless never-ending 90 minutes. Rarely have I cared less about wobbly, naked breasts as much as here. While the film has been beautifully restored and re-released in HD thanks to Nicolas Winding Refn, it wouldn't have hurt if it had been buried once and for all with the monsters that haunt it.

Oh my god he did it again! After Nicolas Winding Refn disappointed me with "Drive", he now goes one step further with "Only God Forgives". No idea in which self-referential endless loop Monsieur got caught, or to what extent he wanted to pay tribute to the trash classics of the 80s ... what he delivers here is so dead serious that you want to cry and unfortunately only seems involuntarily funny, varnished and over-the-top. One would think that the contact with overseas was not exactly good for the quality of Refn´s work, just think of the times when the Pusher trilogy was pounded in front of us and you thought: "Wow, the director really has it! " At that time the whole thing still breathed the grandeur of European cinema, von Trier and the like peeked around the corner and Mr Refn showed us how modern, brutal cinema works that does not take itself too seriously. Those days seem to be over once and for all. And what I should think of Kristin Scott Thomas' performance has not yet revealed itself to me ... she probably wanted to be filmed really nasty after all the character studies of the last few years ... she should be forgiven. Ryan Gosling is in the same facial sleep mode as always, which is not particularly surprising, but still somehow sad ... I'm sure there would have been a lot to get out of his role, but ok ... At least a few scenes brought a smile on my face, albeit for unintended reasons. Since I was able to enjoy the visual presentation of the spectacle and liked the soundtrack a lot, I give this film 7/10 points. But next time, please again with characters one likes to watch doing their dirty work and less wallowing in the narcissistic and the style-over-substance.