Sunday, August 17, 2014

A Movie Review: The Place Beyond the Pines

The Place Beyond the Pines.  Luke (Ryan Gosling) is a traveling motorcycle stunt driver.  In one town he passes through, he runs into one of his flames, Romina (Eva Mendes).  He finds out that they have a child.  She's already moved on to an individual who is likely to provide a more stable relationship.  Luke decides to stay in town to try to rekindle the romance and to be more involved with his child.  

Deciding to stay in town results in Luke losing his income stream.  To earn money, he turns to robbing banks.  This is where he ends up running into a cop named Avery (Bradley Cooper).  

This movie is definitely well acted.  What else would you expect when Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes and Bradley Cooper are involved.  On the other hand, I had a major problem with the movie when the sons of both Luke and Avery become frenemies in the movie.  It was just such an obvious moment that perfectly helped out with the plot, which kind of led one to figure out how the movie was likely to end.

Also, I'm not sure if the encounter between Avery and Luke should have been as controversial within the police department as it was made out to be.  Maybe a more veteran cop would have handled things differently, but considering the circumstances of the encounter (a confrontation with an individual who was guilty of armed robbery) I would tend to provide some lenience to the cop's actions.  

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