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The best part about this film is its cinematography which is incredibly well-made. Every scene is lively, full of vivid colors, and some shots were instantly memorable and memorizing. I certainly can tell that Refn knows how to set up a shot and make it look incredible. Unfortunately, the same praise cannot be said on the plot and acting... or lack thereof. Now, I understand that this is a big artsy film that is going to be filled with themes, symbols, and ideas that I might not understand the first time watching. However, I felt the first two halves were just so slow that I was considering just abandoning the film altogether. Only until the third half did I understand why things were going and then had some enjoyment out of it but I still believe this film has problems. I can't really hate against the acting in the movie as originally I thought Ryan Gosling (whom I praised for his performance in Lars and the Real Girl) was giving a really disappointing performance as Julian, the guy who just stands around with a blank face that could have been played by any random stranger on the street with zero acting chops. However, I don't blame Gosling or the other actors considering how they aren't playing "characters" but just things that are meant to portray ideas and move the plot along. Now, there were a bunch of ideas, themes, and messages that I didn't understand at all like the character of Chang being an Old Testament God and the motif of hands until I decided to check on a few videos "explaining" the plots of this movie. Even when I sort of had an idea what the film was trying to be about there were two main problems that really straight this film from having any kind of enjoyable or rewatch-ability.
One being how the story fails to get across these ideas to the audience which is just bad analysis right there. They also don't get across why these symbols and ideas are so important besides being symbols and recurring motifs; there isn't a real clear message to this film besides the basic "eye for an eye" be-good message. But even if they did manage to get across these themes in the story and present a clear message, they still didn't manage to construct any interesting characters that gave me any kind of interesting in delving into the meanings and ideas of the film. If you don't have characters that you have interest in or care about, then you have no reason to get involved in the story and thus, don't care about rewatching and understanding the subliminal messages in it. Still I do give respect Refn's vision for this story as not only those he provide incredible cinematography to this film but also really tried telling his own story, not caring about what others would think of this content. He managed to get across a good portion of the story without any kind of exposition but through visions and expressions which is always impressive when done right (Although, this one didn't do it perfectly). However, I do believe if Refn had tried making the story make little bit more accessible and presenting characters we could attach ourselves too while still having those artistic elements, he could have made an incredible film that would not have been so polarizing for both critics and audiences.
That being said, I don't really HATE the movie but I am slightly disappointed with how much I didn't really enjoy it. I am significantly less hyped about seeing the praised Drive, although I still will try to check it out when receiving the opportunity. Still if you are interested in checking this film out, I'd say give this film a chance as the very least it will provide one unforgettably unique experience.
5/10
