The Place Beyond the Pines - Movie Review

The Place Beyond The Pines fell short of my expectations. With a cast that includes heartthrobs Bradley Cooper and Ryan Gosling starring alongside sexy Eva Mendes, I had high hopes for this film. Especially Gosling who has been one of my favorites dating back to his quirky performance in Lars and the Real Girl.

The Place Beyond The Pines is sort of mini-trilogy. The film is divided into three smaller stories connected by the characters. The first portion of the film focuses on Luke (Gosling), a stunt motorcyclist with a traveling circus. This portion of the film was tense and interesting, although one-dimensional at times. The film next focuses on Bradley Cooper, a rookie cop who bucks the good-old-boy network to expose corruption in his own police department. Although interesting, the section became tedious at times. We finish by concentrating on two boys with a common past that they are unaware of. The boys expose their common pasts through their indiscretions, leading to a somewhat lame, unrewarding finale.

I was a bit miffed by the arc of this story. The characters were intriguing enough, but not thoroughly developed. This created a somewhat stilted atmosphere that felt superficial. The plot also felt contrived more than it seemed intriguing. Rather than shocking plot twists, we are left with manipulative drama that fails to reach us on our gut level. We don't know these people. They don't relate to us in any way. Their decision matrix, personalities and worldview are foreign to us. There is nothing in the dialogue or character development to connect us to the characters or action. I felt like I was watching from outside when I would rather become engrossed by the film. The concept was interesting enough, the characters were unique, although flat at times, and overall I enjoyed the story. But this film could have been much better.

One of the highlights of this film was the acting. With veteran performers like Gosling, Cooper and Mendes on the ticket, it was bound to at least deliver the drama. All three were excellent. They were joined by a lesser known veteran, Ben Mendelsohn and relative newcomers Emory Cohen and Dan DeHaan. The younger actors were convincing in their respective roles, adding some depth where the writing failed them. The cast helped this film turn the corner for me, allowing me to give it a mild recommendation rather than a "thumbs down."

I was somewhat surprised that The Place Beyond The Pines earned an R Rating from the MPAA. The rating seemed rather harsh for a film that has somewhat modest violence and no sexual content. There were some sexual references, drug and alcohol use and strong language. But the violence was a small aspect of the film and remained contextual. There was one graphic scene that I recall, but nothing like a first-person-shooter game. I would probably have gone with PG-13. Viewers younger than 13 might be okay as well, depending on their maturity.

I feel like The Place Beyond The Pines let me down. The cast included some of my favorite actors. The concept was intriguing to me, although the trailers did not adequately depict the flavor of the film. There were some decent action sequences, great performances and a solid concept. However, the film didn't hold together at the end, falling short at tying everything together. For a film made of interconnected vignettes, it is imperative that the ending hold up. For me, it fell short of the mark. In the end, I enjoyed the film (although I enjoyed it less toward the end). I would give a mild recommendation of 6/10.