Refn is a study of extremes. He gets so much into whatever badassry he wants to paint, that he forgets that he has an audience who are watching too. The concept of revenge is great, and at some point in the movie, you are feeling the need for punishment upon some of the characters. He then muddles it up by going too far with everything, and it becomes as though you are stuck in an avant garde art museum in which some of the art is very shitty, and you wonder if the talented artist can see it too. The only persons who come out looking good in this, is the mother, and the cop. They are badly flawed. The rest of the characters were either floating through, or badly used to make points that were unnecessary.

If I were a studio chief, I will not give Refn money to make another movie without restraint, or a very detailed contract.

All that said, dug the score....and some of the violence is great...just a stupid ass waste of time movie. Gosling got a free check for this one.