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MOVIE REVIEW: ‘THE LONGEST RIDE’ Literally Feels Like a Long, Long Ride.

 

 
Overview
 

Directed by: George Tillman Jr.
 
Produced by: Marty Bowen, H.H. Cooper, Theresa Park and Mitchell Smith
 
Written By: Craig Bolotin
 
Starring: Britt Robertson, Scott Eastwood, Jack Huston, Oona Chaplin and Alan Alda
 
MTRCB Rating: R-13
 
Genre: ,
 
FG RATING
4.5
4.5/ 10


User Rating
2 total ratings

 

Raves


Alan Alda, Jack Huston and Oona Chaplin

Rants


Script, Narrative, Slow-mo parts, Britt Marlinson and Scott Eastwood


As Nicholas Sparks’ books tell: everyone deserves to love and be loved, people fall for each other, faces a tragedy and doubt begins to get inside the picture, and some may live tragically or not exactly a happy ending. Even if all of his stories tells us that “love” remains strong at the end no […]

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Posted April 17, 2015 by

 
FULL REVIEW
 
 

As Nicholas Sparks’ books tell: everyone deserves to love and be loved, people fall for each other, faces a tragedy and doubt begins to get inside the picture, and some may live tragically or not exactly a happy ending. Even if all of his stories tells us that “love” remains strong at the end no matter what; because of that, his books sold millions and a lot of his works reached the big screen.

The Longest Ride follows the story of Sophia Danko, an art major and Luke Collins, an aspiring bullrider, they fell in love with each other. One day, during their date, they rescued an older gentleman from a car crash, Sophia watches over him, he introduces himself and tells the story of his life.

Unfortunately, the ‘longest’ word from the film’s title made the viewing experience felt a lot of roadblocks along way. The film’s narrative doesn’t have any firm grasp; the characterization for example was reduced to your typical boy meets girl situation, Sophia watches a bullriding show, Luke notices her, they had a small talk, the next day, he visits her with a bouquet of flowers, followed with a date. There isn’t a smooth transition of they fall in love and no reason why we, the audiences should cheer for them.

The-Longest-Ride-7-Britt-Robertson-and-Scott-Eastwood

And on top of that, Luke is a bullrider, Sophia is an art major, and that’s just it, we didn’t really get to see any characterization, or the conflicts, there were a few, but was executed in a phoned way, where’s the part that Sophia is striving to achieve her dreams?  Or Luke’s internal monologue of possibly losing? Sadly, these protagonists were reduced to one-sided lovey doveys.

Ira and Ruth Levinson’s storyline were one of the film’s watchable parts, it had the emotion and character development as opposed, but it’s a shame it was merely used as flashback scenes and it’s whole context didn’t really justify or gave an impact Sophia and Luke’s stories.

Another thing that bothers me is the slow-mo on the bullriding scenes was overused, it didn’t really add some tension but ended up unintentionally silly, if not corny; and these sequences almost looked like the same as if it was shot on one whole sequence, altered them a bit during the editing process.

Britt Robertson and Scott Eastwood were the film’s weakest links, there wasn’t any sort of connection between the actors, their chemistry felt forced and looked like siblings rather than lovers; perhaps, they weren’t able to do much with the material that they were given or just stayed in their comfort zones, following every word of the script.

Eastwood ended up like an eye candy, his Southern charm wasn’t there: the fiery, confident and smug aspects were lacking, but props to his efforts on pulling off a convincing Southern drawl. Robertson’s performance lacked conviction, she didn’t had enough grasp with Sophia’s struggles on pursuing dreams and being with Luke and also, there’s no trace that she came from a huge family of Polish immigrants, it felt like Robertson had to say her ancestral background because the script says so.

LongestRidetrailerAlanAlda

Alan Alda’s Ira Levinson is your cliché, old and wise colleague (think of Professor X and Gandalf). The way he tells his life story was just mesmerizing, there’s the abundance of passion of his undying love for Ruth and unconditionally uplifts you. His younger counterpart Jack Huston, was good as Alan Ada, he was able to bring some layers to Ira through manipulating his range smoothly, and his expressive body language and eyes were so vivid and had a fantastic on-screen chemistry with Oona Chaplin.

Now that I mention Oona Chaplin, I was beyond surprised on how she’s phenomenal on this, like Huston, she compliments seamlessly with him, whether a scene requires a dialogue or not, Chaplin’s Ruth Levinson has its own magic – she’s at her best when portraying the character with feistiness, outspoken nature blended with raw emotional depth.

Oona-Chaplin-in-the-Longest-Ride

Thankfully, Huston and Chaplin were able to fill the romance that was missing on the film. Their on-screen chemistry was mesmerizing to watch, they complement seamlessly. You can see truth instead of acting, they brought so much life into Ira and Ruth, their nuance and human approach as well. Having a connection to your role sure does pay off well.

Despite of Alan Alda, Jack Huston and Oona Chaplin being the film’s redeeming parts, everything else are out of place, and felt entirely flat out. Hopefully Nicholas Sparks would consider a racially diverse protagonists in his future works rather than peddling another token white guys and gals all over again.

Thank you 20th Century Fox Philippines for the invite!


Mico Orda

 
A passionate, enthusiastic writer, Mico Orda utilizes his filmmaking skills to keep his writer’s edge. He enjoys a lot of outdoor activities, which juice up his creative juices.


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