The Place Beyond the Pines (2013) Review

   I caught this over the weekend as well because I didn't know it was out on home video.  I think it's safe to say Ryan Gosling liked doing weird movies because this film has an odd but interesting plot line.  To sum it up quickly, it's a combination of Drive, Copland (if they replaced any dirty cop actor with Bradley Cooper), and Chronicle...because the kid from Chronicle is in it playing another emo kid.

This whole movie is Eva Mendes's fault!

If you saw the trailer for this film, they show you a lot of action, and Bradley Cooper holding a gun and bank robberies.  What they didn't show you is what the actual film is about, and that it takes place in the span of about 15 or 16 years.  You will get the action you see, the bank robberies and the motorcycle chases but what you will also get is the story of a weird family feud that spans about fifteen years.  This is not necessarily a spoiler, but be informed you will not see some of the actors mentioned until about half way through the movie.  Ryan Gosling is not one of them though, so if your girlfriend is making you go see it for him.  He's there in his minimal dialogue roles that he likes to play.

I can't say I liked or do not like it.  Mainly because I am still trying to figure it out, like I said it felt like three mini movies instead of what I was expecting.  When people used to ask me about movies I rented in high school that I couldn't form an opinion about I would say, "It's a solid rental".  This movie...is a solid rental.  I do like most of Goslings recent films and he's pretty good in this but like the last film of his I saw Only God Forgives, it's not what you expect.