Much like the last review, I shall write my current idea of the plot without digging deeper into IMDB or spoilers!
From what I can tell, the plot behind this is very similar to Drive (another Ryan Gosling film), in which he is a stunt driver who then commits crimes to get money. Very simple, yet this time, Gosling finds out he has a baby with Eva Mendes and uses the money to support her. With a few bank robberies, detective Cooper is chasing Gosling down and this is as much as I know!
It is safe to say that after watching this movie, my perception of the story was extremely far off. This film has 3 or 4 different stories which all follow neatly and compile together to become a much larger story. At the start, we find that Gosling's character (Luke) is a member of a travelling circus in which he is part of a daredevil motorcycle group that does the ring of death in the steel cage (This does help to explain all of the crazy tattoos). Upon returning to the location for the movie, Gosling meets Eva Mendes, who he had a fling with a year ago. After finding out that he knocked her up and now has a son, Luke drops out from the circus and finds himself a minimum wage job to try and provide for his family. Living below the line, he follows the advice of a new friend and uses his talent of motorcycle riding to rob banks and exit the scene quickly. This plot continues for a while until he cocks up and ends up being killed by the Avery (Bradley Cooper). So an hour in, we have lost the main character and follow the struggle that Avery goes through after suffering a gun shot wound from Luke. This section is where the story could have ended quite evenly however we continue following our next protagonist. Avery's story was plagued with troubles, even before returning to the police when he unfolds corruption and institutional racism within his force. After fighting all of this off, 15 years pass and we follow the paths of Luke's and Avery's children who become friends in high school and end up getting busted for drugs. This section of the story is where we follow the pressure from Avery's son on Luke's child (Jason), and the deeper understanding by Jason on finding out who is true father is and find out the connection between Avery and Luke.
As I stated, the story could have ended at the death of Luke, but we were kept in for much longer to see the effects this had on Avery. However, the addition of an extra story of their children made things a little difficult and I felt myself looking at my watch a few times throughout this section. For a role which demands aggression and compassion in one person is difficult to find and can be even harder to perfectly balance. Ryan Gosling's portrayal of this was very good, however his voice doesn't infuse anger. It's very squeaky and can seem comical in sections. Gosling's background in romantic movies allows him to show a compassionate side and is believable, especially when he breaks down on seeing his son being christened. Bradley Cooper is also very compelling throughout, his good cop routine and his desire to do good and better the police is admirable and he portrays Avery and the stress of a police career on his wife and family with dignity. If you haven't noticed, Ryan and Bradley are juxtaposed against each other. They are the reflection of what a father at home can do to affect the outcome of a child's life. You notice many morals and issues like this, like police bribery and stereotyping to providing for a child.
For the rest of the cast, we had a lot of B list celebs alongside some other recognisable faces but they fade into the background. The teens that appear are actors which I have never really liked and their performances made me dislike both of them. This could simply have been very good acting to be like douches, yet from what I remember from other films; they lacked much importance and integrity.
The filming and framing of this film is absolutely gorgeous. The first robbery scene and ensuing chase scene was filmed in one take in a fashion that appeared like it was either a documentary or first person. The chase filming is bouncy and shudders a lot but isn't to aggressive to make you nauseous. Upon the death of Ryan Gosling's character, we see some of the best cinematography of the whole movie. As Ryan peers out of the window, looking down on the body of Luke, we look directly up at Avery and watch his sweat drip down onto the lens of the camera with jump cuts to the body of Luke and a few frames of police running up to he body which has been rotated 90 degrees anticlockwise. This level of detail balanced with the precision of the background music builds huge amounts of tension which get your blood pumping and makes you want to scream at the screen not to do something.
At the end of the film, I felt that the movie was very good, but also a very depressing watch, which leaves you with a feeling that clings on for an hour or so after the film. With a length of 2 hours 40 minutes, it is worth the ticket price and certainly has a brilliant story to back it up. However, I wasn't sure on the genre that the movie wanted to fall into, I personally felt it was more of a thriller than a crime drama. With a brilliant soundtrack and stunning cinematography I shall give the movie an 8/10.
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