Worth a watch but couldn't get me all the way there

Rating: 6/10 (28 September 2011)

This movie does a few things well. This movie also does a few things poorly. All in all I was left with a sense of emptiness and a lot of questions for the director. Being the first movie by this Nicolas Winding Refn, but from browsing his other titles this brand of gritty uberviolent flocks doesn't seem to be that far off.
First off the good. The cinematography as well as musical score is great. It does a fantastic job of making you feel like you're watching a 1980's movie and I absolutely loved that. From the wardrobe down to set decor this is one of the best examples of taking the viewer back in time and making it convincing. The intro scene as well as first third of the movie also carries with it a great sense of building tension. Problem is this continues on until the bitter end of the movie, with scene after scene of mounting tension capped off with gratuitous violence. Many of these scenes attempt to make Ryan Gosseling the coolest most dangerous man on the planet but I had a hard time believing this. I truly think he is a talented actor but I feel like he was just trying a little to hard and the character never really came through for me and was equally difficult to get attached to. Perhaps if I had seen this with rapt attention and been totally focused it would have been a better experience but alas I wouldn't run to the theater to see this one.