Pusher 1996 ★★★

Watched May 07, 2012

A very competent debut for Refn. It's a bit inconsistent tonally, could use a bit tightening in the first half, and the climax wasn't wholly satisfying, but it's an otherwise solid little film.

11 Comments

  • I think this is my least favorite Refn film but it's still pretty cool. I need to rewatch this. I watched the trilogy back to back so it's kinda hard for me to remember to much from each. I know I liked the third one the best.

  • It's definitely my least-favorite of the 4 that I've seen, but it's simply remarkable how Refn has matured with each film. The guy just keeps getting better. He's going to be a huge deal in the very near future if he keeps it up.

  • What other ones have you seen?

  • I have seen this, Bronson, Valhalla Rising, and Drive.

    And they are listed in ascending order, from my least favorite to my most favorite.

  • I love all his films.

  • Fear X is worth checking out also.

  • Bronson was very good, but felt insignificant, like it accomplished nothing. Maybe it's the lack of a real plot (which keeps me from enjoying most bio-pics), but I would be floored if he can top Drive, which is a total masterpiece, in my eyes. Everything about that movie is perfect.

  • Yeah, if he keeps getting solid scripts to work with like Drive, he will be unstoppable.

    PS: I loved the Drive script before the movie was even shot. I loved the movie even more. After I saw it, I re-read the script and found that everything that was changed or removed was actually a benefit to the overall story. In other words, he took something great, and made it even better. Maybe it wasn't all him, and perhaps a lot of credit should go to the writer, but if he can retain that level of storytelling skill in his future films, his movies will just be unbelievable.

  • I agree that Pusher was a big disappointment after seeing Bronson and Drive. It seems like Pusher is very well regarded with most people so my expectations were high when I saw it(especially after seeing the other two Refn I mentioned) but I was underwhelmed.

    I skimmed through Valhalla Rising; I didn't give it much of a chance but it seemed questionable

  • I thought Valhalla Rising was amazing, but can completely understand why most people would hate it.

  • Of course, but people seem to rave about it so my hopes were high

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