The Place Beyond the Pines is a crime drama, the name coming from the loose translation of the name of the city, Schenectady, that the movie is set in. The movie stars, Eva Mendes, Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper. When a motorcycle stunt rider, played by Gosling, discovers he has a child, but is unable to support his child with a low paying job, he decides to start robbing banks. During a particular robbery he has an encounter with a cop, played by Cooper, which ends up changing both of their lives for generations.
The story was gritty and dark. It had a couple of odd plot transitions, the shift in main character about an hour in was different from other movies that I had seen in the past. It made me have to wrap my head around the fact that this is, in a sense, like a 3 act film, which I was not anticipating.
In regard to the acting, I was mostly on board. I liked Eva Mendes as the love interest, Romina. She played a hardworking, loving, and driven mom. I was pleasantly surprised to see Mahershala Ali in this film. He played a supportive and kind step-father. A young Bradley Cooper also brings his A-game to this movie, as a cutthroat cop. Ryan Gossling was the only disappointment to the cast. He was one-dimensional and boring.
Overall this movie wasn’t my taste. It had a tension throughout and a low budget, indie vibe to it. I couldn’t connect to the characters and I wasn’t fully convinced by the outcome of the plot, which seemed a bit unrealistic to me. I'd say skip this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment