Review: "Only God Forgives" is an Unforgivable Mess

Left to right: Yayaying Rhata Phongam and Ryan Gosling

In 2011, director Nicolas Winding Refn gained an unprecedented amount of overnight success. With the help of Ryan Gosling, he created a beautiful, poetic look at Los Angeles in a genre-bending tale of violence known as Drive. While it bombed at the box office and failed to garner much respect at the Oscars, it did end up as one of the most iconic depictions of cool for the modern generation with an equally infectious Cliff Martinez score. With Refn's follow-up and the second collaboration with Gosling, is it possible for the duo to strike lightning twice, or is Drive one of those rare success stories?

Is "Only God Forgives" Too Violent for an Oscar Nomination?

Ryan Gosling

For people speculating the Oscars, it has been a rough summer. With exception to Fruitvale Station, there haven't been any definite selections. Maybe it is from the bloated output of franchise sequels and remakes. It could just be a lackluster year where Steven Spielberg correctly identified the collapse of blockbuster entertainment. Still, as July starts to wind down, we enter a more enticing season of original fare including The World's End, Elysium, and director Nicolas Winding Refn's follow-up to the iconic Drive known as Only God Forgives with Ryan Gosling. Opening this Friday, is this film able to break the trend of Gosling films getting ignored, or will this just be reprise of Drive?