im gonna need to see this again but i definitely liked it. Drive blew me away, and I know people think that movie was slow, or soft, but its storyline and character development was much more impactful than this one. the violence is great, the cinematography is great, the story of police corruption and "foreigners in a foreign place" is great, but all of that means nothing because...none of it means nothing. I dont need a nice, tidy plot line, and a hero and a villain, someone to like and hope for, and someone to hate, but i just ended up not giving a shit about anyone. Ryan Gosling's character is so flat, and a pussy, overall, that its intended "weirdness" and "transgression" towards his mom ends up meaning nothing. I ended up not caring about their relationship, because it never meant anything in the first place. This movie was beautiful, but not impactful. I could go on but i dont want to spoil anything.
overall, the whole "emptiness" or "lack of focus" on one character is clearly a stylistic approach, but it ends up hurting the movie more than helping it, IMO.