Have No Fear, The Villain Is Here!

In many films today, there is almost always a controversy between what we agree with and what we do not. Although, what do you do when the character we are led to believe in, is actually a villain in disguise? When things begin to go dark when we thought all was bright. You may begin to switch with the theme, or you may remain empathetic to the evil-doer. No need to fear, that does not make you evil, the producers of the films will purposely direct your emotions to sympathize with those of the bad guy. Using this knowledge I will be discussing the film “The Place Beyond the Pines”, and it's portrayed main characters Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper) and Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling). I will be discussing how the producers have led their audience to feel pity, sorrow, and even anger for the “bad guy”. Maybe he is not so ‘bad’ after all.

This story begins with the life of Luke Glanton. As a motorcycle stuntman, travel was a huge part of his career. Yet, once he arrives in Schenectady, New York, he is reunited with a woman from the past, a woman who he later discovers he shares a son with. Fearing the title of a “deadbeat dad”, Luke will do anything in his power to be involved in his son’s life in some form. By quitting his job as a motorcyclist, he is able to attempt to support his son. Afterwards, he takes up a job with a man at a local auto repair shop and tries to squeeze into the lives of his ex; Romina Gutierrez, and their son. After countless rejections from Romina regarding his financial support, he becomes desperate. Asking his employer for a raise, Luke sets out on the situation of a lifetime that he never would have thought he would land himself in. The character of Bradley Cooper is brought into the film on some seriously inconvenient circumstances. Avery Cross is part of the NYPD, and is also the murderer of Luke Glanton. Fast forward a few years, and the “good guy” remains as someone the audience hates, but the characters adore. The criminal who has died is someone the characters of the film believe to be the terror of the town that was finally solved, whereas the viewers know the deceased’s true intentions.

The producers of “The Place Beyond The Pines” do an adequate job at forcing the audience to feel nothing but pity for Ryan Gosling’s character. As a victim of a deadbeat father, all his character wants is to be a part of his child’s life by not making the same mistakes his father did. He gets his life together by quitting the job he loves, realizing how dangerous it is, and how much time he would spend away from his family. Getting a new, local, well paid job is Luke’s second step into his son’s life. The money he receives from every paycheck would go towards childcare, to insure his son has a good life. How could you hate a man like that? Later realizing that what he is bringing to the table is not enough, Luke asks his employer for a simple raise, not realizing that this source of income would be what ends his life, and begins the wrath of his son’s. As the audience, we wonder how things will turn out, will his son respect his drastic decisions? Or hate him for his criminal behavior? Several years later, Jason, a troubled teen curious about his biological father, becomes enraged by his discoveries, but it is not what we think. When Aj Cross enters Jason’s life, the secret is soon revealed: Jason’s father was dead because of Avery Cross, Aj’s father. Using these aspects, the producers have created a base for the audience. We feel empathy for not only Luke, who had been murdered in an act of unlawful money “exchange”, but for the son who was forced to grow without a father to guide and love him. Simply because Luke had gotten involved in some illegal business of bank robbery, the NYPD believed it suitable to shoot and kill him, unarmed, and surrendering. The police officer becomes the true antagonist of the film. Praised for his duties that “benefitted the community”, the audience begins to despise this man, while feeling sorry for the known criminal and his family.

The “protagonist”, Avery Cross, is made so that the viewers are forced not to feel any pride in his doings. By the gloating and positive praise he receives for murder, one cannot help but think he enjoys the attention. He is given medals and badges for killing a man who wanted nothing but to provide for his son. As if this was not enough, the man he killed was surrendering when he shot him by accident inside a family's home. After being shot, Luke had fired back at Avery, who later tells police that Luke had shot his gun first resulting in him firing back in defense, ending his life. Although the man feels remorse for what he has done, the audience cannot help but wish it would have been him who had died back in that house. With a son of his own, one would assume Cross would understand the pain it must have caused Luke’s family, but instead the man becomes just a shadow in the background of his own son’s life. This results in his son being brought up for drug possession with a friend, who is later revealed as Luke’s son, Jason. Once Avery realizes this, he forbids his son from speaking to him, fearing what he may do if he knows what he has done to his family. Nevertheless, his son continues to speak to the forbidden boy. Jason discovers his father’s past through his step-dad, who tells him his name, and the internet. After visiting Luke’s former employer, he is shown all he needs to know about his biological father, including a picture of the man who murdered him. While maintaining a friendship with Aj Cross, Jason notices a photograph in Aj’s home, the same photo that was in a newspaper article about his father’s death. Once Jason has placed two and two together, he lashes out by beating his former friend at gunpoint, then dragging Avery Cross out into the woods where he intends to murder him to avenge his father. While he prepares to shoot and kill the man who deprived him of a father, Jason has a change of heart and instead steals Avery’s wallet which held a special photograph, and runs away. When Jason is gone, he purchases a motorcycle, similar to the one his father once drove, and drives away. Back at his home in New York, a few months later his mother receives an envelope from her son, inside is the photograph, one of them along with Luke, dated back when Jason was just a baby.

By the final plots of the film, the majority of the audience is in tears. We realize the kind of life Jason would have had, attempting to grow as a boy without his father. The sympathy we feel for Luke Glanton and his family is over the moon, and the little remorse we feel for Avery Cross, even after he breaks down in apology, is just one example of the amazing job the producers had in making this a film for the “bad guy”.