The Place Beyond the Pines (2013)

This movie is beyond me! I cannot even...

Explaining the synopsis of the movie without spoiling you is very difficult but I would try nonetheless. The film tells three different stories but are all connected to each other. The first story is all about a motorcyclist named Luke (Ryan Gosling) who finds out he has a son from his former lover Romina (Eva Mendes). He starts robbing series of banks in order to provide for his son and somehow be a part of the family he once left. The second story is about a police officer named Avery (Bradley Cooper) who crosses paths with Luke. Avery has some troubles of his own as he struggles with the corruption inside the police department. The third story is about two troubled teenagers who become friends after sharing similarities but are unaware of something greater that connects the two of them.

To be perfectly honest, by the time I finished watching this movie, I seriously did not know how to feel about it. It has a simple storyline but it can be complex at the same time. I feel like watching Cloud Atlas all over again but this time on a smaller time frame involved and less CGI.

My favorite part of the movie is probably the first one. This is the most exciting yet presented in a very subtle tone. We see how Luke badly wants to provide and be with his son even though he has so much little to work with. But at the same time, we see his happy moments where he can be with his son and trying to patch things up with his former lover Romina. The character development of Gosling's character is very well done. We see from a being a famous motorcyclist in a circus to a bank-robbing daddy. The former, though it sounds more appealing, he had nothing to live for. He was living a routine that didn't seem to cut out for him despite his God-given motorcycling skills. The latter however, though he may have gone downhill and his job isn't exactly legal, he lives for something greater than himself. 

The second part of the movie is okay for me. Cooper's character is ambitious and luck for him, his character gets what he wants. But as soon as his fifteen minutes of fame is over, he is faced with the reality of how dirty the world is even when you are inside the police department. Cooper's character, Avery, is well portrayed and we feel the emotions of the character as he faces numerous decisions that can either make or break his life. What I didn't like about the second part though is that it was starting to get a bit predictable. You would be able to easily guess what's going to happen next and it definitely lacks the suspense that the first one had. Nevertheless, it was still good.

The third story was when the predictability in the second story is quite noticeable. It's really sad though since this can be considered as the climax of the story yet we are given something that could have been thought of as a fan fiction. What only makes the last part interesting is the decisions that the character has to make in order to reach the ending. Two possible ending but we are given only one. I actually like the ending but it left me hanging somewhere and I don't even know where.

Decisions, decisions, decisions. Basically this movie runs on a theme-driven plot and if you watch it by heart, you might actually learn a thing or two. Lots of themes but the one that struck me the most would probably be about the decisions we make. Our decisions would greatly affect other people even if we are long gone and sometimes, they would even come back and haunt us in the future.

In conclusion, you can either hate this film or love it. People may have different opinion from mine but that's what makes life thrilling.

Rating: 3/5