MovieChat Forums > Only God Forgives (2013) Discussion > Hopelessly bad

Hopelessly bad

posted 11 years ago by ptschultz
71 replies | jump to latest

The only thing in this film - in fact, all that saves it from complete and utter *beep* - is the cinematopgrahy, which was overall pretty great. Funky lighting, good use of slow-mo, complementary colors etc. Looked fancy.

In all other areas though, this film incapsulates the word "pretentious". There is nothing beneath the bright lights and highly contrasted imagery. Nothing. The story is predictable and shallow, all the characters are flat as pancakes and I as an audience member care for none of them, the script and dialogue is laughably cheesy and at times unintentionally funny (the scene at the dinner table and where Julian shouts at May sticks out), the editing is clunky, the soundtrack is misplaced, the fight scenes looks like something from a music video, there are no thrills, no chills, nothing to stimulate the mind or the senses.

The fact that something so self-absorbed and degenerate could get produced, gives me cancer in the penis.

/Marches off.

[–] Bohemian_Ash87 10 years ago

Totally agree OP.

Movie was a steaming pile of crap, which could have simply been played at normal/fast forward speed instead of being SO pretentiously slowed down, and could have finished in 30 mins rather than 1 hr and 30 mins. Would have made it less painful to watch.

[–] RaidenPLS 10 years ago

Movie was a steaming pile of crap, which could have simply been played at normal/fast forward speed instead of being SO pretentiously slowed down, and could have finished in 30 mins rather than 1 hr and 30 mins. Would have made it less painful to watch.

The deliberately contemplative, Zen-like pace of the film seems appropriate to me given the setting and the content. But then again I have little patience for the tedious fast-paced blur of modern movies from which nothing meaningful can be absorbed. It is revealing that you refer to "fast forward speed" as "normal." I would call such a pace degenerate and ADHD-inducing.

But I find it humorous that so many hostile reviews of this film are unable to articulate any coherent (or relevant) criticisms. I mean, "pretentiously slowed down" doesn't even begin to scratch the surface. It is the intellectual equivalent of "tl;dr"--it says much more about the capacities of the viewer than the film...

And you will know my name is The Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee!

[–] Judge-Dredd 10 years ago

I agree, except that I hated everything about this including the cinematography. This film is nothing but artsy, pretentious nonsense. And to all of those people who say "you just don't understand the themes the director was trying to convey", give me a break. I could create a bizarre painting without any particular themes in mind, and people who see the painting would endlessly debate about what themes they see in the painting. But only I, the artist who created the painting, would know that it has no themes at all and is nothing more than a strange piece of art. That's all this film is, except that it doesn't even qualify as a piece of art.

This is a film for hipster tryhards who convince themselves that any film which is bizarre, boring, or simply doesn't make sense must have deep themes that the "average viewer" won't understand. This film is pointless, and is one of the worst attempts at being artful in recent memory.

________________________
What do you want from me?

[–] j_imdb-661 10 years ago

First of all, criticizing cinematography is in itself a pretentious position to take

as the real joe public doesn't even know what that is.

Second, obviously, you don't understand art if you think you painting something

bizarre and random isn't itself a deliberate artistic statement in which people can

derive whatever meaning they choose.

There are simply works which are cryptic and not easily accessible to large masses

for a myriad of reasons. Not wanting to accept that doesn't change the fact.

Spears Lover
http://img3361.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=23251_BritneyRy7_122_525lo .jpg

[–] Judge-Dredd 10 years ago

First of all, why

are

we

typing like this

?

Secondly, you're entitled to your opinion. But I'm also entitled to mine.

[–] j_imdb-661 10 years ago

I type like that sometimes just to keep things legible if I write a lot.

As for your opinion, I accept it, just I find the effort put forth into this movie

to be different or unique, admirable.

I don't find it to be a very good movie either, in fact I'm not inclined to watch

it again, ever.

But for those few minutes I did watch I was impressed by its oddness.

There's so much schlock to wade through, a movie like this is refreshing, but only

to a certain point. So "hopelessly bad" I think is too general a statement. It's

enough to just say it's weird and boring. Inland Empire is a great example of a

long boring weird movie a person would be foolish to dismiss as hopelessly bad.

Spears Lover
http://img3361.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=23251_BritneyRy7_122_525lo .jpg

[–] MrMcMurphy 10 years ago

Well said. I think people are confusing cinematography with a compelling story.

[–] crankyerma1984 10 years ago

Refn better hope God forgives because I don't think there is anyone in the industry who will be quite so generous after this steaming present.

[–] waisehell 8 years ago

The only thing in this film - in fact, all that saves it from complete and utter *beep* - is the cinematopgrahy

That's like saying "I only like this film because it's a film."