DEREK Cianfrance’s thriller/actioner is a drama in three acts. Act 1 introduces globe-of-death motorbike rider Luke (Ryan Gosling) who on learning that his lover (Eva Mendez) has a son by him, takes up, along with Robin (Ben Mendelsohn) bank robbing to support mother and tot.
Act 2 begins when law-graduate cop Avery (Bradley Cooper) shoots Luke. Avery also has a small son. He works in a force where corruption starts near the top and has ambitions to become the New York State attorney-general. That happens at the beginning of Act 3, when two 16-year-old high school boys discover a mutual antagonism.
Police corruption is a well-tried theme and Ray Liotta has a corner on bad cop casting. Sequences while Cianfrance eyeballs the scenery make the 140-minute film rather obese but that aside, it punches near the top of its division. It’s not overloaded with laughs. But Acts 2 and 3 deliver opportunities to find things between their lines worth pondering.
At Dendy, Capitol 6 and Palace Electric
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