Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper star in the 2012 Hollywood film, “The Place Beyond the Pines,” alongside a number of other well known actors and actresses.
This drama/crime has a bit of everything mixed in, a few love stories, family struggles, robbing banks, car chases, drugs, adolescent rebels and estranged friendships. You’ll be on the edge of your seat at times and shielding your eyes from the inevitable at others. Ryan Gosling, playing Luke Glanton, is passing through a small town when a summer fling turns into a big surprise. He is forced to make a decision for his sudden family, and he ends up down a path with temporary reward but no escape.
The first act includes a surprising twist that completely flips the audience’s attempt to pick up on foreshadowing. In the second act, Bradley Cooper enters as police officer Avery Cross in pursuit of Glanton, which leads him into something he is unaware will affect the rest of his years. The latter half of the movie is focused on Glanton and Cross’s sons befriending each other at school and the journey of pain they inherited from their father’s pasts that have dominoed into the present.
Overall, this film didn’t do much for me. Intense at times, there was something missing when the credits began rolling. But if you’re looking for something to provoke your thoughts, be sure to add this one to your list.
