Summary: a bizarre cross between the Neon Demon, a video game and possibly Only God Forgives.
To be blunt this is one for the fans, if you haven’t watched a lot of NWF’s films you will likely feel lost and somewhat alienated by this film. If you have you will see a marriage between several of them as we stated in the summary.
For the abstract world of Refn outside of his Pusher films and Drive, this film is perhaps the most standard plot wise, the interpretive elements are turned down and more is spelt out.
The characters are strong, Sophie Thatcher fits well within the world and could prove to be as good a muse as Mads Mikkelsen or Ryan Gosling. Thatcher has to do a lot of heavy lifting and she pulls it off well.
There are a few outstanding questions around genre, is this a horror film, a thriller, an action film, somewhere in-between but that’s the beauty of the material.
Overall, a great film.
4.5/5
Pros.
The style
Thatcher
It’s a compelling narrative
The ending
The elements of Japanese mythology
Cons.
The pacing
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