The great Beyond

In theaters Friday: A Dark Truth, Texas Chainsaw 3D
New on Blu-ray: Cosmopolis, Little Birds

In Nicolas Winding Refn’s moody getaway drama Drive, Ryan Gosling stars as a mythical stunt driver who turns to abetting a crime to save the woman he loves, was one of my favorites from 2011. If I could have figured out how to sew a scorpion onto a white jacket, my Halloween costume wouldn’t been on lock-down. Drive‘s whole cloth take-it-or-leave it bravado was just part of its appeal. The enveloping electro-pop score by Cliff Martinez and Refn’s eye for picturesque scenery gave what was a surprisingly lean narrative—at least, for a genre film of this kind—a huge hand. But when it comes to Drive, the chemistry and majesty of the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. You just buckle up and enjoy the ride.

So, it is with mixed feelings that I watch the first trailer for The Place Beyond the Pines, a crime drama that feels so akin to Drive, it could and likely should be viewed as a spiritual sequel to its predecessor. More of a good thing is fine by me, but is this picture an exercise in empty mimicry or does it have something unique to say. I don’t want to sound negative, in fact, it could be that Pines improves upon the Drive formula and bests that film in any number of categories. Either way, it is a bold move for Gosling to take on such similar characters less than two years apart.

Directed by Gosling’s other consistent collaborator of late, Derek Cianfrance, who cast the actor in both Half Nelson and Blue Valentine, the film has “the Gos” playing a similarly silent and mysterious type—this time a down-and-out stunt motorcyclist—who turns to robbing banks in hopes of changing his life and reconnecting with the mother of his child.

That should sound familiar to anyone who has seen Drive, but those who know Cianfrance’s free-wheeling, almost cinema verite style, won’t go into Pines expecting to see the ultra-composed, painterly fast becoming a hallmark of Refn’s work. And while the lead character and the conceit feel like an outright homage to Refn’s near masterpiece, the trailer gives the feeling that Pines is a more ambitious and sprawling epic. Like Blue Valentine, the story spans many years and appears to revel all the drama to be had on both sides of the law. Bradley Cooper co-stars as an officer on a mission to solve Gosling’s bank robberies and rise through the ranks of a corrupt police department. Eva Mendes, Rose Byrne and Ray Liotta co-star.

The Place Beyond the Pines arrives in limited release March 29. Watch the trailer below: