The Place Beyond The Pines - DVD Review

         For a movie that seems to have a good cast with Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, and Eva Mendes, Rose Bryne, and Ray Liotta, you have to wonder why they were in a movie like this since their roles were so limited since the movie was an hour and 40 minutes but you never saw the cast for more than 20 minutes throughout the movie. 

        The reason for that was because the movie was broken down in three stories, which doesn’t make for any kind of a plot  First, there was Ryan Gosling,  who played Luke, a motorcycle stuntman turned bank robber.   He felt that this was the only way he could make more money in order to provide a good home for his wife, Eva Mendes, who is Romina, and their new born child. 

         Once the first story ends, it’s on to the second story where Bradley Cooper, who manages to be a hero and how he deals with what happened to Luke.  He doesn’t have much of a character other than playing the honest cop who has to decide how to handle the bad cops in his precinct such as Ray Liotta.  

          After that, we move on to the third story, which deals with the children of Luke and Avery.  Of course, they have lots of problems, including doing drugs and there is no explanation as to why they went off in this direction.  It’s nice to use our imagination and try to come to our own conclusions but when we have no clues to go on other than these characters flaws, then it only makes the movie more dull and depressing.  

          Then there are the flaws in the movie.  You have Luke running away from Avery on a motorcycle and managing to break into a house where the door is not locked after he falls off his motorcycle.  Then there is the scene where Luke and Ray Liotta manage to go into Luke’s house where Romina and her boyfriend are at home.  They allow them to search the house for the money that Luke stole and of course, the money is found in less than 10 minutes even though Romina and her boyfriend have been living there for years. 

            My feeling is that if you’re going to make a character driven movie like this, then look at a movie like Boys In The Hood where the characters are flawed and we see the reasons for them.  Nothing like that in The Place In The Pines.  If you’re looking to rent this movie, I would tell you that it’s dull, depressing, and awful, making me wonder why hollywood would even make a movie like this.  That’s the reason I can give this movie one star.  

Ron Hummer