Nicolas Winding Refn (My favorite director): Best to Worst List
by Spoilerrific-Reviews | created - 21 Sep 2014 | updated - 26 Jun 2016 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Drive (I) (2011)
R | 100 min | Action, Drama
A mysterious Hollywood action film stuntman gets in trouble with gangsters when he tries to help his neighbor's husband rob a pawn shop while serving as his getaway driver.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks
Votes: 704,754 | Gross: $35.06M
A film that is conceptually perfect and executed with such brilliance that it is the absolute watermark for Arthouse Action.
2. Only God Forgives (2013)
R | 90 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Julian, a drug-smuggler thriving in Bangkok's criminal underworld, sees his life get even more complicated when his mother compels him to find and kill whoever is responsible for his brother's recent death.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vithaya Pansringarm, Gordon Brown
Votes: 118,146 | Gross: $0.78M
Were it not for Drive, this would be his crowning masterpiece. A blood-soaked, neon-drenched, Oedipus-themed and symbol-filled ride through hell.
3. Bronson (2008)
R | 92 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A young man who was sentenced to seven years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending three decades in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter-ego, Charles Bronson.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn | Stars: Tom Hardy, Kelly Adams, Luing Andrews, Katy Barker
Votes: 140,926 | Gross: $0.10M
It took a while for Bronson to grow on me, but when it did...oh, Jesus, did I ever love it. Easily one of Refn's greatest.
4. The Neon Demon (2016)
R | 117 min | Horror, Thriller
An aspiring model, Jesse, is new to Los Angeles. However, her beauty and youth, which generate intense fascination and jealousy within the fashion industry, may prove themselves sinister.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn | Stars: Elle Fanning, Christina Hendricks, Keanu Reeves, Karl Glusman
Votes: 103,962 | Gross: $1.33M
A scathing satire with small flecks of black comedy and horror. Refn brilliance all the way through.
5. Pusher (1996)
Not Rated | 110 min | Crime, Thriller
A drug pusher grows increasingly desperate after a botched deal leaves him with a large debt to a ruthless drug lord.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn | Stars: Kim Bodnia, Zlatko Buric, Laura Drasbæk, Slavko Labovic
Votes: 44,570 | Gross: $0.00M
Considering this is his first film, it does indeed show the promise that Refn held and has now fulfilled.
6. Fear X (2003)
PG-13 | 91 min | Thriller
When his wife is killed in a seemingly random incident Harry (Turturro), prompted by mysterious visions, journeys to discover the true circumstances surrounding her murder.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn | Stars: John Turturro, Deborah Kara Unger, Stephen Eric McIntyre, William Allen Young
Votes: 8,327
It is not perfect but it is the maturity point for Refn's style as a director, not to mention it is a tense schizophrenic nightmare.
7. Bleeder (1999)
98 min | Crime, Drama
Two stories for the price of one: Lenny works in a video shop and tries to get aquainted with the waitress Lea. Leo beats his pregnant wife, Louise, which is a VERY bad idea, as her brother, Louis, is a violent racist.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn | Stars: Kim Bodnia, Mads Mikkelsen, Rikke Louise Andersson, Liv Corfixen
Votes: 9,183
Brutal and odd, but great.
8. Pusher III (2005)
Not Rated | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Milo tries to be a family man and run his criminal organization, but a wrong drug shipment endangers everything.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn | Stars: Zlatko Buric, Marinela Dekic, Slavko Labovic, Ramadan Huseini
Votes: 18,065
Better than the second film, but still nothing that comes close to the first. Though, that "organ grinder" scene...that was intense.
9. Pusher II (2004)
Not Rated | 100 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Tonny is released from prison - again. This time he has his mind set on changing his broken down life, but that is easier said than done.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn | Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Leif Sylvester, Anne Sørensen, Øyvind Hagen-Traberg
Votes: 25,024
Honestly, I didn't find it as captivating or intense as the first.
10. Valhalla Rising (2009)
Not Rated | 93 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Forced for some time to be a fighting slave, a pagan warrior escapes his captors with a boy and joins a group of Crusaders on their quest to the Holy Land.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn | Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Maarten Stevenson, Alexander Morton, Stewart Porter
Votes: 63,662 | Gross: $0.02M
The worst of the best simply because it is incredibly difficult to watch.
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