Movie Review: The Place Beyond the Pines (contains Spoilers)

Ryan Gosling has become one of my favorite actors. I can't quite put my finger on it. In this flick he plays carny white trash. Which reminds me of every d-bag whiteboy I grew up with. The open is him running his motorcycle threw a gyroscope. He finds out he now has a kid with a fling from the last time he was in town (Eva Mendes). Like any respectable carny trash he turns to crime to make some extra cash, specifically robbing banks. He hits a few banks without a hitch. His getaway driver says he doesn't want to do it anymore, and Ryan makes the dumb decision to do one more score. And of course he gets tracked by the cops. Enter Bradley Cooper. At this point he's just a beat cop. He follows Ryan into an apartment complex and ends up shooting him dead.
At this point, the main character of the movie shifts. I thought this was an interesting twist. The movie is 2 1/2 hours long. The main character switches from Ryan Gosling to Bradley Cooper at roughly the halfway mark. We get to see corruption on the police force Bradley works for. Ray Liotta shows up at this point for about 15 minutes. We fast forward 15 years and the son that Gosling left behind and Bradley Cooper's son are actually friends. And by friends, I mean assholes who like to get high together. Their unaware of their fathers' history. Gosling's kid actually tracks down the guy who was his getaway driver. He feels him in on the history. After a falling out the 2 sons had, Gosling's kid shows up with a gun. ETC. ETC.
I somehow never knew where this movie was going. I kept expecting Bradley Cooper's character to hook up with Eva Mendes, but it never happened and I'm happy about that. The movie may have been a little on the long side, but it really is an interesting flick. I'd give it 4.5/5 stars.