The Longest Ride

The Longest Ride

A former bull riding champion falls in love with  college student Sophia, but conflict paths threatens to tear them apart: Luke is trying to make a come back on the bull riding circuit, while Sophia is about to start her dream job in the New York art world. when the couple are stuck on how to work things out they are inspired by a elderly man Ira, whose decades long romance with his beloved wife withstood the test of time.

Thoughts & Experiences

Its been two days with out a blog post and i'm having cold turkey withdrawals from not writing! So i decided to change things up and watch a romantic movie for you, since a lot of you will probably love love romantic movies and ill admit it, i love romantic movies as well! 

As you guest correctly the movie i watched last night was the new upcoming film, The Longest Ride. The Longest Ride has to be one the best romance movies i have seen in  along time, instantly putting it on my top 10 lists. When i was watching the Longest Ride i couldn't help compare it to other romantic movies like "The Notebook," & "Dear John." After the movie was over i had to google it, and it turns out it was the same novelist (Nicholas Sparks) who wrote the two novels, including The longest Ride.

At the start of the movie it shows us a bull riding rodeo, where men have to ride a large bull for 8 seconds to qualify for the next round, Introducing us the male lead role, Luke Collins. Luke Collins is a champion bull rider and has just drawn the largest and meanest bull on the rodeo circuit. When Luke gets on to the bull you can see how feisty and angry the beast is, as it is rattling the bull cage before entering the open circuit.  The gates open for Luke and the maniac bull and the crowd goes wild as they see Luke and beast fight it out for 8 seconds, but something goes wrong as you see Luke get thrown off the bull furiously.

I Loved the beginning of the movie as it was different from other romantic movies and started off thrilling and exciting to see rodeo bull riding from the start. I Believed that something bad happened there and then as it cut off and made me think what could of happened to Luke when he fell off. 

Fast forward 1 year later from Luke's bull riding accident, and bring in the female lead role Sophia Danko. Sophia is a sorority college student and is asked by one of her sorority sisters to go watch a bull riding rodeo with the other sorority sisters for the day. Sophia and her sorority friends are now at the rodeo having a good time and watching the riders do their thing and Sophia is fascinated by one of the riders, who turns out to be Luke. Luke is on top of one of the bulls nervous than ever before, bringing flash back images from his accident 1 year ago, but Luke manages to contain his feelings and completes his bull ride for 8 seconds, making him the champion of the local tournament.

Sophia & Luke have a brief encounter at the tournament as he runs away from the charging bull he just defeated and climbing the gates in front of Sophia. Sophia can see that Luke dropped his hat in the process of running away and shouts him to give it him back, but he tells her to "keep it." Smooth!

The two have anther encounter at the rodeo after party and finally have a chance to introduce themselves to each other, but the encounter was short and sweet as one of Sophia's sorority sisters is to drunk to look after her self, making Sophia take her home, and Luke agrees to call her. I'm Guessing for a date or to hang out.

A couple of days later they haven't spoken or haven't called each other, so Sophia finally gets the courage to call him and they both agree to go out on a date. Finally! 

Luke & Sophia are enjoying an afternoon by the lake, engaging in some good food and conversation. Sophia tells Luke that she wont be in college for long as shes taking a job in New York and this makes Luke sad as you can tell by his facial expressions. Luke asks to take Sophia home because it is interrupted by a down fall of rain, but while they are driving home Luke sees something and stops his car. When Luke gets out, he sees a car that has crashed off road in to a tree he tells Sophia to call 911. Luke drags an elderly man out of the burning car and puts him in his truck, while Sophia grabs a box that is still in the burning car because the man was begging them to rescue it from the wreckage. 

It went from romance to super hero movie in the space of 5 minutes, it was a incredible transition. The dinner date by the lake reminded me of summer time for some reason, probably because the scenery was beautiful and sunny. Then when everything was all lovey dovey the scene changed to an action movie, where we see Luke rescue the elderly man from his car. I guess this worked in his favor because its showing off his many hero skills in front of the girl he likes. 

Luke & Sophia have just dropped of the elderly man off at hospital and Sophia agrees to stay there till he wakes up. The two apart ways as they think nothing will happen between them both and Luke drives off in to the stormy night. Sophia is now alone in the waiting room along with the box she rescued from the burning car and opens it up. Inside are hundreds and hundreds of letters, so she decides to open one up and read it. The reading cuts to a new scene a old decade of the elderly mans memories of his first love and how they came to meet each other.

This part was so emotional and warming as it shows us Ira's first memory of his first love in a letter he wrote. I think the decade was from the 40's  from what i can tell from the clothing and vehicles. In them days it was all so romantic and true, because there wasn't technology like we have today's world, which i think ruins the whole romantic side because who writes letters these days? its all text and social media romance. I would of loved to have a romance from the 40's era where it was at its best in my opinion.

As Sophia goes to take the box of love letters to Ira, she can see him there arguing with the nurse to eat something, but he refuses. Sophia tells him to eat something and she will read the letters to him because he struggles to read, even with his glasses on. Sophia begins to read another letter and the memories flow wild with emotion. Sophia tells Ira she will come back tomorrow to read more letters to him and for the duration of there newly found friendship.

I thought this was brilliant and clever of the producers to get Sophia to go back to the hospital to read the letters to Ira, to have two different love stories in one movie. I have never seen this in a movie before which made it very unique for the me, i'v seen flash backs before but not as many to make up a new story for a movie like The longest Ride achieved.

Conclusion

 

When i watched the The Longest Ride it reminded me of the great romantic movies like i mentioned before. I think this could be one of the greats for years to come and i think the viewers would love this unique adaption of the Novel. 

The first encounter with Sophia and Luke was well planned out and didn't rush in to anything serious like most movies would. The accident with Luke made me think that this could be a barring for him in his life and for Sophia as well, but could they find the strength to endure it together with out being torn apart?

The best part for me was the memories of Ira and his love Ruth. This is what made the movie unique and stand out, it was interesting to see how Ira's life would turn out after some hard times, in both of their lives. The two very different era love stories were very similar to each other as both had hard times and had to keep the strength to stay with one another, but gradually overcome the hard situations like most couples would in reality. 

Overall the movie was very emotional in good and in upsetting ways but what romantic movie isn't? The story was superb and gripping, which i think most romantics will love. 

Characters/Actors

Britt Robertson is the gorgeous actress who plays the gorgeous Sophia Danko. Britt did a good part in capturing the emotion of a girl who is madly in love, making me believe she was actually in love with the rodeo cow boy. I'v been watching Britt for about 4 years now in TV & Movies and she absolutely deserves the recognition she is getting today.

If you think this guy looks like a younger version of Clint Eastwood, its because its his son Scott Eastwood. Scott Eastwood did a fine job in being a Texas rodeo cowboy and what a gentlemen he was. I think the women would love a guy like Scott's character Luke, as he was kind, thoughtful and knew how to treat a women at best. 

Alan Alda was the old Ira who was in the car crash. he made me think he was heartbroken and lost since the death of Ruth. He didn't seem happy any more until Sophia read the letters he wrote to Ruth. I think Alan could make older viewers relate the situation he was in and the circumstances he faced in the movie.

Jack Huston played the best part for me because i haven't seen him act before and he played the part very well and uniquely. he started off as a shy man who fell in love with a women out of his league, to become a man who came out of his shell which Ruth brought out the best in him. As a British actor i actually thought he was American with the accent he spoke in the movie.

Oona Chaplin is the Spanish actress who plays foreign character Ruth. Ruth moved to America due to the war and lead her to meet her true love Ira. Ruth has a love of art and collected art over the years of Ira & Ruth's marriage. Over the years they have collected a rare bunch of paintings that are worth millions, which Sophia & Luke discover at the end of the movie. 

Discussion

1. What did you think of the overall movie?
2. What was you favourite scenes? & Why?
3. What could of been improved in the movie?
4. What was you least favourite scenes? & Why?
5. Was the actors/actresses suitable for the roles? 
6. Who was you favourite character? & Why?
7.  Did you think the movie was as good as the novel?
8. Is the movie better that the book?
9. Is the book better than the movie?
10. What movie would you compare this to for similarity?