Drive may not have had the awards muscle or the box office success that many thought it would have, but the pairing of Ryan Gosling with Nicolas Winding Refn still flashed a ton of promise. Their follow-up, the Thai boxing crime thriller Only God Forgives is one of the most anticipated films of the year, and now a new red band trailer has arrived.
Soaked in crimson and featuring Refn's stylish noir touches backed oddly by a Thai karaoke singer, the trailer puts Gosling again in the familiar role of a hardened warrior, and we see him engaged in numerous brawls and dragging thugs around by their teeth. He plays Julian, who runs a kickboxing gym in Bangkok which is really a front for the drug operation run by his mother. Her narration, voiced by co-star Kristin Scott Thomas, opens the ominously-toned footage and sets the stage for what looks like another gritty effort from Refn and Gosling. We also get brief looks at Vithaya Pansringarm as the Angel of Vengeance, a brutal former cop Julian is on a collision course with after the murder of his brother.
With Cliff Martinez (who also worked on Spring Breakers) back doing the score, combined with the quick flashes of brutality, the film bears more than a passing resemblance to Drive. Whether or not Only God Forgives is more warmly received we'll have to wait until July 19th to find out.
Only God Forgives by Teaser-Trailer.com
