renu-09957 This movie is so goddamn stupid and pointless. It scares me how bad it is, guys. In the first scene of the movie, Romina scores a bike ride with Luke. For no apparent reason. It's like she is leading him on and when he asks her if they can get a drink or something, she says no. WHYYYY. When Luke gets the crib, Kofi gets angry because it is his house. Wow, prince charming. You care more about your rundown house than a crib for an infant child who you call your son? Really smooth. And, when Romina coos "Baby." at Kofi after he is punched by Luke doesn't even add up. There is simply no chemistry between them. If the girl wants to have no ties with the father of their child, fine. But Luke was trying to do a really nice thing by getting presents for his child, there is no crime in that. And, a scene that depicts the opposite of that shows how talented the writers and directors are. I can't understand why Eva Mendes (the intelligent and beautiful actress that she is) would even choose to read a script in which she is merely a damsel in distress and where two men are just fighting over her and her baby. She never takes a stand. She keeps pushing someone away who clearly loves and admires her.

rai-15799 Rayan Gosling and Eva Mendes on their PEAK performance, Bradly Cooper did really well and rest was good enough. Glorious directional work. Awesome story from very first scene grabbing you altogether then keep rising till middle then story line falling slowly and till the end story line reaches to its Okay level.Could be a lot a lot better if story in second and third part could had been reviewed by director before making it.

Anthony Iessi Sometimes, you never know what the actions of now will create for the future. The Place Beyond the Pines is an incredible film in that it's story goes in one direction and then swerves into another, only to come back around at the end. Not unlike a motorcycle ride. I was thrown for a loop, in the best kind of way. We follow Ryan Gosling's character, a criminal carny performer desperate to provide for his newborn child by robbing banks. He is stopped in his tracks by Bradley Cooper. Cooper kills him, but the guilt he is left with him nearly gets him in the end. He lives with the grief of leaving a little boy fatherless in comparison to his own son, who will never know that his father is a murderer. What happens then is even more interesting. The two sons, a generation apart, form a bond with drugs and alcohol, and both end up repeating the sins of their fathers. One becomes a thug, especially when he realizes that his best friend's father killed his dad all those years ago.What started out for me as shaky territory (love story between Gosling and Mendes) turns into something of a masterpiece that most film lovers overlooked five years ago. A truly captivating drama, with real, raw performances from everyone involved and an intriguing way to tell a tragic story.

jchano123 When I first looked into this I thought it would be some boring melodramatic indie film, but thankfully I was wrong. This movie was definitely consistently interesting and by no means boring, but had the story been told in a different order, and not simply chronological, it could've been a lot better. The direction was really good and filled with lots of tension and the story as a whole was pretty interesting.Gosling sold his part for me even though I'm really not the biggest fan of his, but I really hated the character and liked seeing him lose so many times. I actually ended up not liking any of the four male lead characters in this. Cooper's was stupid and didn't earn my respect from the get go, and Cohen's really annoyed me. DeHaan's was probably the most likable, but even then, not much.Technically, almost all the camera-work was hand-held which got dizzying and many shots could have been significantly more effective if a track or dolly was used.In the end, it was an interesting movie, but could have been much better had there not been so many missed opportunities.