10 Movie Trailers That Cleverly Hid Huge Spoilers

6. Ryan Gosling's Death - The Place Beyond The Pines

The Spoiler

The movie's apparent protagonist, Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling), is shot and killed just 51 minutes into the film's 140 minute run-time, after which the narrative leaps forward 15 years to focus on the man who killed Luke, Avary Cross (Bradley Cooper), and also the sons of both men.

How The Trailer Hid It

The film's main trailer is a masterclass in editing, taking a ton of footage from Gosling's role in the first act of the movie and sneakily combining it with clips from later in the film, to suggest that the bulk of the plot involves a cat-and-mouse game between Glanton and Cross.

Though some ultimately complained about the brevity of Gosling's role, the bulk of The Place Beyond the Pines is captivating enough that it easily survives without him.

And a big part of that effectiveness rests on the genuine shock factor of our flawed "hero" being brutally killed barely one-third of the way through the movie.

Plenty of films employ simple editorial fudging to throw audiences off, but in this case the marketing team basically reconstituted a new plot to throw people off.