Only God Forgives

Did you know that the latest Ryan Gosling film is already available for home rental? It is, and that's because it sucks. This year, Gosling has returned to the well to work with two directors who came up aces for him on their last films. This is the latest from director Nicolas Winding Refn, who made the masterpiece Drive. While Drive cemented Gosling as one of the better young actors on screen today, this winds up being a complete non-event, and has virtually nothing to offer. Gosling plays Julian, a Bangkok drug smuggler whose brother is killed by a local cop. At the urging of his foul-mouthed mother (Kristin Scott Thomas), he seeks revenge on his brother's killer, resulting in a fight where he gets his ass supremely kicked. That's it. That's the movie. Ryan Gosling gets his ass kicked while Thomas curses up a storm. Some people get their arms cut off, some people get worse, and that is all. Other than Thomas talking in a way that would make Harvey Keitel blush, there isn't much for dialogue in this movie. There are a couple of dreamy karaoke sequences that feel as if they were lifted from the cutting room floor of the last David Lynch film. I'm thinking Refn should go back to directing other people's screenplays, as he did with Drive. The screenplay for this one is all his, and the blame for it's profound dumbness lies squarely on his shoulders. (Available for rental at OnDemand, iTunes and Amazon.com)