re: The Place Beyond the Pines...??

Ok..

After finally watching the whole movie...

It really only suffers from one thing...

A misleading trailer.

Spoilerish

I was expecting a Cooper/Gosling movie in the same vein as The Departed or American Gangster. Obviously different stories, but basically revolving around the two guys. It flipping back and forth between their scenarios/situations.


So when the movie has gone 45 mins without any of Bradley Cooper I'm thinking....Well he's not really a co-lead after all. But then we're hit with the surprise...

Overall..The first act is clearly the strongest of the movie. The first act is so good...you kind want to see how that plays out over a full 2 hrs. So thats the letdown.

However, the 2nd act is actually pretty good. But in retrospect has the least interesting story. I see people hated the 3rd act...I think its because we were so caught off guard by it. The 3rd act makes the whole movie work or otherwise its just a standard movie, thats lacking after the it shifts to the cop's focus.

I liked how they crossed paths at the end. I was kind of hoping for a "Mystic River" kind of ending. Didnt get that. But again....The 1st act is great (Gosling was better in this than Drive imo) 2nd Act is good (Cooper continues his improvement as an actor)

The 3rd Act is a bit of a WTF....but its what truly makes the movie come together and gives more meaning to what happened in the 1st Act. The consequences, the reactions, decisions, etc. It was needed. It would have helped if maybe the 2nd/3rd acts were shorter. But still a very good movie.

Still wouldnt have minded a more The Departed/American Gangster back/forth story telling. But It was very good for what it was.