Good parts, bad parts (spoilers)

I can't say this movie was terrible because I did like the beginning, but it started falling apart rather early. I felt like it was a bad adaptation of a book (may have been, I have no idea) because there were so many things that were unnecessary, and out of place. If they were from a book, there would have been internal dialogue that would make sense of some of these events.

I may get some names wrong, sorry.

My first problem was Luke (motorcyclist) learned of his son. "He's yours," the grandmother says, and he doesn't even flinch. Whaaa?

The stereotypical hard-working Latina doesn't contact her baby-daddy because he never called her back? Sorry, no, doesn't happen that way. I do know of mothers who didn't contact their kids' dads but they were financially secure.

Romina then moves in with Kofi who raises her son and yet at the first opportunity she cheats on him with Luke, doesn't seem wracked with one iota of guilt. After Luke freaks out and bashes Kofi (that whole episode went nowhere), she throws him out. He goes to jail for a minute, and continues robbing banks.

The second bank, it appears he shot that guy running up to him outside, but nothing ever is mentioned about it. In a small city that would have blown up, even if he didn't die. Robin would have confronted him. It would have been mentioned when he was caught.

Despite the flaws, I was engaged during the first act. You got the feeling something was about to happen, it was suspenseful. Then the police chase and again, wtf. The whole force should have responded, a helicopter would have been deployed as soon as the first cop went into pursuit. Avery gets involved and despite radioing his location, backup doesn't come for like 15 minutes. I don't know much about policing but I'm pretty sure he should have waited for backup, being that the residents were out of the house.

Then the whole shooting thing. We're trying to figure out Avery. Not only does he lie to internal affairs, he's quite a dick about it. He clearly is troubled by being dragged into corruption, and he goes to his father despite an apparent rift. So is he honest? Not really, he's using the info to get a job, and he tries giving money to Romina in a strange sequence. Is all this to tell us he is not one-dimensional? For the first time, I'm glancing at the clock, waiting for this movie to go somewhere or end.

I did see flashes of trouble in their marriage when they were at the table with the other cops. There were a few little digs or hints they weren't getting along and then he didn't stick up for her when the other copy (Liotta) insulted her. But heck, Romina's relationship was stronger than theirs, despite her cheating? And by all accounts she did not want Luke near her son at that point, so why yell at Avery that he had just ruined her son's life? It made no sense.

It was veering off into stereotypical tropes of the mean, power-hungry white guy versus the hard-working long-suffering minorities.

Fifteen years later is when it got really weird. Despite his upper middle class upbringing, AJ somehow picks up a Brooklyn accent and a rough manner. Jason is perpetually sweaty. It seems this friendship results from more than chance, but why? We have no idea what AJ knows about the past, but surely he has no reason to hold a grudge against Jason. Right?!? And surely AJ didn't know they would get busted, so what were his actual intentions?

This part is actually embarrassing with its unrealistic dialogue and cliches. More questions about Avery who gets them released from jail. Is he helping Jason out because he feels bad for him, or is he just a corrupt pol pulling strings to keep his campaign on track? Life seems to just go on, unlike real life.

Jason is suddenly curious about a father who he only knows as having died in a car accident or something. Really? As unrealistic as that was, this part where he learns about Luke is getting better. Why ask about the cop in the newspaper when he learns his dad was a bank robber?

Jason agrees to go to AJ's party, a stereotypical house party full of rowdy teens. He sounded insincere so it was surprising and unrealistic when he actually stole prescription drugs for this guy he doesn't even like. And what was the point of that? The screenwriter keeps throwing stuff at the screen that goes nowhere.

I'm kind of forgetting the sequence but at some point Jason confronts AJ, who beats the crap out of him, despite them all being wasted on pain pills, yeah ... and of course a small town broke teenager effortlessly acquires a gun. Now the promo for this movie says the place beyond the pines is some kind of refuge. I have to admit I was stumped. The one other time they went out that way was during the corruption debacle and Avery noped out of there. Now Jason abducts Avery and brings him out there too. What kind of refuge is that.

I kept waiting for Avery to say, "I held you when you were a baby." He seems to forget that. He cries and Jason drives away in his car, then later finds Luke's motorcycle, and without so much as a test drive or a haggle, plunks down the full price of a bike he shouldn't be able to ride (does he even have a motorcycle license?) and off he goes into the sunset. What about finishing high school? What about abducting Avery and doing whatever he did to AJ?

Despite all the shenanigans, Avery wins the election and AJ applauds enigmatically.

All in all, the movie had promise but threw it away. So there were a lot more bad parts, especially later on, than good parts. The more I think about it, the worse it seems.