THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES

year: 2013 cast: Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Ray Liotta, Eva Mendes rating: ***

A tale of three stories, all connected to a flawed but kindhearted stunt riding motorcycle guy. With tattoos covering most of his body and a Metallica T-shirt, the opening shot of Ryan Gosling’s Luke (a cross between Steve McQueen and Peter Stormare) strutting through a carnival crowd and stepping into a circular cage where motorcycles zip around like killer bees… promises a lot more than THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES offers, but that’s only if you’re expecting an action movie to begin with.

The first vignette has Luke discovering he has a baby with his ex, which gets to him deep down. And in the Film Noir fashion our flawed antihero goes straight into crime, robbing banks along with a grizzly getaway driver. The bank robbing scenes, followed by Luke zipping off on his motorbike, are quick and shaky but always involving. Gosling turns in a worthy old-school performance as a desperate tough cookie, blending slow burn venom with quiet pathos.  But his story doesn’t last long…

After one robbery too many, Luke is chased into a suburban house and… let’s just say the story’s now handed off to Bradley Cooper who, as Avery, takes the second tier of a good cop in a sea of sharks. The versatile SILVER LININGS Oscar nominee does a pretty good job as a vulnerable pawn yet this story lacks the punch of the first one. The best scenes have Avery under the gun of his impending foes, but there’s not much payoff to the edgy buildup.

The third tale has been maligned by critics and audiences alike: Cutting 15 years later we follow the sons of both Luke and Avery. Luke’s kid is a shy brooding stoner while Avery’s, speaking like a hip-hop wannabe, pushes him into criminal activity: just to make a party better. Not a bad little ride here, but the troubled teens are paper-thin and it doesn’t seem a worthy crescendo for those initial characters that made these punk's existence, and the overall story, happen in the first place.

Judging as a whole, THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES is a decent patchwork that, during the last fifteen minutes, pays homage to a bonafide classic MILLERS CROSSING as two important characters meet up at the rural location the film’s named after: a do or die moment resulting in a somewhat bland conclusion.