Review of The Place Beyond the Pines (2013) by Andrew214 — 18 Apr 2013

This movie was very disappointing to me. I went into it knowing almost nothing about the plot or characters except that Ryan Gosling played a character somewhat similar to that of Drive, an edgy, sometimes soft-spoken man, but full of intensity and anger bordering on rage at other times, (Drive is in my top 3 movies of all time list).

The first "act" of this movie was absolutely phenomenal, but I can't help but feel somewhat annoyed that all of the main characters never mingled and interacted with each other like a big-name cast usually does.

For me, the climax of this movie was less than an hour into a 2 1/2 hour venture, and I still find myself wondering how the director possibly thought the rest of the film could live up to Gosling's performance.

The character portrayal and acting in this movie is absolutely top-notch and it should be watching for just that reason alone, but the story telling brought it down a little short of landing near my all-time favorites list.

If the director had somehow copied the intensity and real, raw emotion of the first hour and transplanted it into the remainder of the film, it might have been talked about as all time time great, not just one of the best of the year.