The Place Beyond the Pines

Ryan Gosling stars as Luke, a reckless motorcycle stuntman lost in a world of little ambition finds himself drawn back to his former girlfriend, Romina. One day Luke spontaneously arrives at Romina's home to discover he has a son, startled by this revelation Luke decides he doesn't want to repeat the cycle of an absentee father so he quits life as stuntman and begins a string a bank robberies using the only skill he only knows best.

I was intrigued by this story from when I first saw the trailer of The Place Beyond the Pines and when I actually got the chance to watch it I was enthralled. Do not be fooled by the trailer advertised as it is completely misleading to what actually happens in the film, but it was a surprise to not know all the exact details from the film beforehand.

The fact that the film is made up from three difference acts, thats three different characters point of views and not forgetting the time differences, something that I certainly wasn't expecting but I loved how their stories were interwoven to create the ultimate master piece.

Ryan Gosling is an exceptional actor throughout this film, even though I have only seen two Ryan Gosling movies which are Blue Valentine and Drive and this by far is his best performance to date. Gosling displayed so much raw emotion when the riveting scenes took place, I was literally on the edge of my seat anxious by how the robberies were going to play out. Luke was clearly a mentally troubled soul and Gosling evidently showed Luke's vulnerability and made you feel sympathy towards Luke because of how far he was willing to go to provide for his son.

Bradley Cooper is a strange phenomenon, he's good at what he does and I certainly wasn't expecting him to take a role like this, although his performance in the Silver Linings Playbook sets the bar of his overall acting skills. But what I will say is that his role as Avery definitely comes close to bar, even though his character doesn't get much screen time he most certainly leaves a memorable impression.

This is the ultimate movie about the repeated cycles of fathers passing their demons onto their sons and someone will always pay the price for their past wrong doings.

*****

________________________________________________________________________________

I saw this film last year via Amazon Prime Instant Video.

As always this is an honest review.