MovieChat Forums > Only God Forgives (2013) Discussion > Hollywood has problems... Biiig problems...

Hollywood has problems... Biiig problems.

posted 11 years ago by The_Show_Stoppa
56 replies | jump to latest

I'm sorry but when a mindless, forgettable, and generic action film like Red 2 gets a big push, opens to over $18 million and gets better "critic" reviews. While Only God Forgives an inventive, creative, daring, and ultimately good movie and piece of cinematic art goes right over people's heads, gets absolutely *beep* on by feeble critics and released to VOD it's really scary to think how unintelligent people are in this instant no attention span day and age.

Now more than ever when it comes to movies people don't want to be provoked, they don't want a complex plot or characters that requires you to look further than just the images on the screen. They just want the same thing they've already scene with the same recycled actors... Damn shame, no wonder everyone (now possible including Refn)is going to television.

If you're a fan of this movie/Refn go read/watch some interviews with him regarding OGF and Hollywood min general... You'll respect and like him that much more.

P.S. I can't even remember the last movie that has had me on the message boards like this.

[–] deanpulpas 11 years ago

Sorry, but to say that if you don't like this film you're part of the unintelligent audience is not the best way to defend it.
I didn't like this film at all. In fact, it bored me and I found it incredibly annoying. The fact that I'm going to be considered unintelligent because of that (not just by you, but by plenty of fans who are using that same argument) kind of pisses me off so I'll give you a few reasons why I didn't like it.
I think Refn was too concerned (to the point of obsession) with the look of the film and expected the audience to pick up on the references and metaphors that were randomly thrown around. The "robotic" acting is way over the top, to the point that instead of looking like dehumanized, emotionless characters, everyone looks like they're posing for some sort of high brow photo shoot in the streets of Bangkok. Every single shot of this film is so stylized that instead of feeling detachment and coldness you feel you're being taken on a tour of the coolest places in Bangkok.
Ryan Gosling doesn't look like a gangster, he looks like a posh kid who hangs out with dangerous people. Kristin Scott Thomas has some of the worst lines I've heard in a long time; not unsettling or scary but plain bad.

The only character that felt real was the cop. He could do the detached, cold character Refn was aiming for, somber and scary and without looking like a mannequin in a Madison avenue window shop.

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[–] kidjay83 11 years ago

The only mindless and forgettable dribble is this movie .Red and red 2 were far better films than this .People aren't dumb ,secondly at least with red you see it for what it is ;purely entertainment good entertainment .Maybe you need something beaten into that thick skull of yours in order for you to feel smart .The rest of the world can't can't fooled and hollywood knows this much .
no complex plot ,or characters that require you to give a fvck that pretty mcuh sums up OGF's perfectly .Refn going to television sounds like a match made in t.v heaven he isn't talented .He hasn't produced anything innovating or creative he's just a self absorbed chode.Who thinks people should worship the ground he walks on because.He knows how splice pictures together to create a movie i've seen interviews he's given.If you were to open that blonde mop top of his up you'd be sure to find some cobwebs and a self portrait of himself in there and nothing more.Don't kid yourself like this guy has managed to do the devil you do know is better than the devil you don't.

You cant change anything without causing some degree of disruption

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[–] ndirish5567 11 years ago

Hollywood has had big problems for a long time. Ryan Gosling is linked to some of the best films of the past 15 years and none of them make money. I digress.

This was a good film. It actually fooled me. I thought we were playing some sort of "Jacob's Ladder" afterlife dream with the cinematography in the red rooms, but formed the opinion at the end of watching the film just now that Chang was "God" to Julian. Could be wrong. Don't care if I am. That's what I like about Winding Renf films.

I do love people bitching about the lack of dialogue from Gosling. Actually my favorite part about this and Drive.

[–] Vestas 11 years ago

Pretty ironic that the OP defends Refn and his movies by criticising Hollywood for recycling actors (Pusher/Bleeder, Drive/Only God Forgives)...

[–] danielpeckett-990-642282 11 years ago

Because the majority of Hollywood films get a sequel cos they don't have any originality so if an original film does do well it gets a sequel then you get films that get sequels when it's previous film does bad but still gets Hollywood's support.

[–] jajceboy 11 years ago

I do like slow movies with character development and minimal plot, I am all for that.
But this one was just stretching it really. It felt like a 15 minute short film was drawn out to the extreme. The whole plot could've been told in 15 minutes.

I loved "Drive",it was a great film where the minimalistic worked to it's advantage.
Here he tried to copy it without the same effect. Shame really!

[–] knoxfan2008 11 years ago

If you watch an interview with Refn, it's pretty clear he is a pretty pretentious guy with not really that much to say. He stutters a lot and keeps repeating himself with bland, pseudo-philosophy about violence and sexuality that sounds like a 13 year old. This film's laziness makes me wonder if Drive was just a lucky fluke or not.

[–] ma_marcil 10 years ago

I would have to disagree with you, knoxfan2008. I have seen several interviews with Refn and even though he seems a bit eccentric, I don't perceive him as being pretentious at all and I found him very interesting. The movie clearly has been receiving polarizing reactions from the audience and everybody is entitled to their opinion of course, but for me this movie is anything but lazy. It is minimalistic in a certain way, but like some other user said before me, I just connected to the feel of the movie, to the atmosphere that Refn created and the characters involved, no matter how screwed up they were and how little dialogues they had. For me, there is definitely more than one way to develop a plot and the characters and the exposition by dialogues is just one of them. Drive was a totally different film for me and while I enjoyed it a lot, I just can not compare it in any way to Only God Forgives, except for the quality of the cinematography, editing and acting, and the strong presence of non verbal acting from Gosling, who was amazing in Drive but is also great in this movie. I saw the film again with my dad this weekend, and to my surprise, he liked it a lot opposed to Drive that he did not like very much. He thought the movie was unique for the same reasons as me and he connected to the mood of the movie as well. So, again, to each his own, but for me Only God Forgives is a great film and one I will revisit soon.

Bill Foster: I'm the bad guy?...How did that happen?

[–] keithmoonhangover 10 years ago

they don't want a complex plot or characters that requires you to look further than just the images on the screen

Please explain how OGF has a complex plot.....

"If you get in bed with the devil, sooner or later you have to fvck."

[–] terrytsilvester 10 years ago

It's not a hollywood film... its french.