Only God Forgives
RADiUS-TWC | Release Date: July 19, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
37
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
14
Negative:
19
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Total FilmJames MottramJul 19, 2013
It’s no "Drive," and even hardcore fans will struggle to love a film that’s as mad as a bag of prawn crackers, but as an exercise in style, it has many moments to savour. Read full review
60
The DissolveScott TobiasJul 17, 2013
Only God Forgives suffers from the disconnect between its stylistic high-art archness and its content’s pulp gratuitousness. Refn gives every sequence a hushed consideration, but there’s rarely a sense that he’s earned it with equivalent profundity in theme. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJul 16, 2013
Crushingly, the dependably perverse art-action director Nicolas Winding Refn has finally made a boring movie. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyMay 22, 2013
Only God Forgives is a hypnotic fugue on themes of violence and retribution, drenched in corrosive reds. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMay 22, 2013
Only God Forgives is the spectacle of a brilliant young director spinning out in style. It’s a beautiful disaster. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrJul 19, 2013
Only God Forgives is the kind of remarkable disaster only a very talented director can make after he finds success and is then allowed to do whatever he wants. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversJul 19, 2013
Where "Drive" shrewdly mystifies, Only God Forgives stupefies. You can see its gears grinding. But I'll always hang on for a rare talent like Refn. Even when he stumbles, he leaves you eager to see what he's up to next. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jul 17, 2013
The results are sometimes striking, in pure visual terms, but rarely engaging; even as a brutish saga of underworld retribution, the film fails to get the heart pounding. Read full review
50
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekJul 16, 2013
Refn may be taking himself too seriously or not taking anything seriously enough—it's hard to tell. But Only God Forgives, so brazen in its double-scorpion-bowl vision, is at least good for a giggle or two. Its sins are many, but after a while, it's not even worth keeping count. Read full review
50
Film.comJordan HoffmanMay 22, 2013
There’s no way to overstate the gorgeous look of this film, but the mannered dialogue and deliberateness of pace becomes less of an homage to Asian revenge films than a parody. Read full review
50
IndieWireEric KohnMay 22, 2013
The movie is like one thin satiric lark inexplicably slowed down to the point of lethargy. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianJamie S. RichJul 18, 2013
Refn's trying to make too little stretch too far. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanJul 17, 2013
It's a solemnly preposterous piece of designer revenge pulp, with actors who stand around bathed in red and blue light like David Lynch mannequins in between scenes of torture and murder. Read full review
40
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJul 15, 2013
However mystifying, or downright boring, you find the result, rest assured that the Refn faithful will swoon. Peace be with them. Read full review
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