5. Strong Female Characters
To that same token, Drive lacked a single truly strong female character. Hendrick's Blanche was a gangster's moll who got in too deep, while Mulligan's Irene was a likeable damsel-in-distress who nevertheless needed Driver's special set of skills to get her out of trouble. Only God Forgives appears to offer a far more tantalising female character by way of Kristin Scott Thomas's Jenna, who plays Julian's mother in the film. She wants her son to get vengeance on Chang for bringing about the death of her son and Julian's brother. The clips posted online so far suggest that she's a far more complex and intriguing female character than we've seen before in Refn's films; she knows what she wants, is strong-willed about getting it, and has a curious relationship with her son that sees her oddly putting him down (insulting his genitalia compared to his brother's) while egging him on to kill Chang. This should make for situations both hilarious and tense in Only God Forgives.