Based on the best-selling novel by Nicholas Sparks, The Longest Ride explores the idea of true love while intertwining two generations of love stories.

Luke Collins (Scott Eastwood) is a championship bull rider who was badly injured his last time out. It is now a year later and he is trying to get back up on the horse (so to speak) and reclaim his title. At one of his rodeos, he meets college senior Sophia (Britt Robertson), and it’s love at first sight.

While on their first date, the couple comes across a car accident where they rescue a man from the vehicle. Sophia also pulled a box of love letters from the burning car, and reads them to Ira (Alan Alda) in the hospital—they are between a young Ira (Jack Huston) and his love Ruth (Oona Chaplin) as they fell in love around World War II. As Sophia sees how Ira and Ruth weathered the ups and downs of their relationship, it also helps her to figure out her own.

While I enjoyed several of the separate aspects of this film, I found that when it’s all put together, there are just way too many pieces and things are left muddled or unresolved. Besides the two generational love stories, Luke and Sophia also have their own separate things going on, making almost four different stories happening at once.

First there’s Luke’s story of an injured bull rider trying to find the courage and strength to ride again to prove that he still has it. Meanwhile, his mother and new girlfriend want him to retire as they are afraid that he won’t be as lucky this time around, and could wind up dead. This was by far the most interesting and successful aspect of the film for me. The bull riding sequences are amazing—you feel the intensity and danger that these riders go through every time they step into that gate and mount the bull. There is one great scene that gives viewers a look from the point of view of a rider.

Meanwhile, Sophia has her own story of trying to decide what she’s going to do with her life. She has lined up an art internship in New York City after graduation, but is that’s what she really wants to do, or should she give that up to explore this new relationship? This whole idea of a job in NYC seems to get forgotten by the end of the film. At the same time, she’s spending a lot of time with Ira, learning about his long-lasting relationship.

And then there’s the two love stories. Much of the film spends time with young Ira and Ruth as they fall in love, deal with the realities of war, and face some major struggles in their relationship. But it’s not all bad times—we also see how Ira fosters Ruth’s passion for art and encourages her—which is one part of the story Sophia really latches onto. We also see Luke and Sophia fall in love (leading to a literally and figuratively steamy shower scene) and face their own relationship hurdles.

Overall The Longest Ride felt like a retread of many other Nicholas Sparks films. In fact, his previous film, The Best of Me, just had these similar ideas of multi-generational love stories and a young couple learning from an older one! But fans who enjoy these familiar Sparks love stories will most likely appreciate this film as it’s more of the same.

As for the Blu-ray presentation, the film looks excellent. The picture is always crisp and clear, and there are distinct looks for both the present and the 1930s/40s storylines. The audio presentation is also well done—dialogue is clear and the surround/stereo channels are utilized to add depth and ambiance to the movie. The Blu-ray contains a really nice selection of bonus material including an audio commentary, almost 20 minutes of deleted/extended scenes, and another 20 minutes of interviews and behind-the-scenes featurettes.

What’s Included:

Film: (2:08:18)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 2.40:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1, Spanish DD 5.1, French DD 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, English Commentary

Digital Copy (Redemption Deadline 7/14/2018):

• Digital HD Copy redeemable via iTunes, Flixster (UltraViolet), Google Play or Vudu (UltraViolet)

Extras:

• Audio Commentary by Director George Tillman, Jr. and Actress Oona Chaplin (2:08:18)
  Director George Tillman, Jr. and star Oona Chaplin (“Ruth”) provide an interesting and entertaining running commentary throughout the film. The two don’t really provide a scene-for-scene commentary, but rather, they start off with a discussion of the casting of the film and then veer off into in depth discussions about the premise and ideas explored in the film. They do provide some general and scene-specific behind-the-scenes production anecdotes as well.
• Deleted and Extended Scenes (19:13)
  Play All or select from “Basket Full of Memories”, “Luke’s Good Deed”, “Romance Above the Dam”, “Making No Sense”, “Declaration of War”, “Soda Shop Kids”, “Love in the Shower (Extended)”, “Ruth Meets de Kooning”, I’m On My Way”, “Falling in Love is Easy”, “Let’s Visit Daniel”, “Ruth’s Biological Clock”, “Sophia & Marcia Say Farewell”, and “Luiz & Jared Ride Bulls”. I enjoyed watching these scenes with the optional commentary by director George Tillman, Jr. and star Oona Chaplin—it was interesting to hear why things were left out or changed.
• A Writer’s Journey: A Day in the Life of Nicholas Sparks (4:44)
  In this humorous featurette, author Nicholas Sparks talks about how structured his writing day is, but his actions don’t match his words as he finds numerous ways to procrastinate.
• Beyond the Ride (4:14)
  The cast and creators of the film talk about the premise, the characters, and the idea of love. Includes interviews with author/producer Nicholas Sparks, director George Tillman Jr., and stars Oona Chaplin (“Ruth”), Alan Alda (“Ira”), Jack Huston (“Young Ira”), Britt Robertson (“Sophia Danko”) and Scott Eastwood (“Luke Collins”).
• Bringing it to Life (4:33)
  Nicholas Sparks and Alan Alda walk around the ranch set talking about where the inspirations for the the setting and the character of Ira came from.
• Meet the Real Bull Riders (6:08)
  Brandon Bates, one of the voices of the Professional Bull Riders tour brings viewers into the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum for a behind-the-scenes look at the bull riding set and the people who made those scenes happen. Includes interviews with arena announcer Clint Adkins, bull riders Jerome Davis, Brant Atwood, Ryan Dirteater, Kody Lostroh, Matt Bohon, Luke Snyder, Markus Mariluch, Sean Willingham and JW Hart, bull raiser Tiffany Davis, stunt coordinator Troy Brown, Rango’s handler Reese Arnold, bull fighters Tyler Furr and Eric Kinner, and stars Tiago Riani (“Luiz”) and Scott Eastwood.
• Luke’s Bull Riding School (4:59)
  Go behind the scenes as star Scott Eastwood learns the bull riding tricks of the trade. Includes interviews with Eastwood as well as stunt coordinator Troy Brown, and bull riders Jerome Davis, Sean Willingham, Luke Snyder, and Josh Faircloth.
• Gallery (2:10)
  Use your remote control to manually advance through this collection of 25 production stills or allow the gallery to auto-advance every 5 seconds.
• Theatrical Trailer (2:26)
• Sneak Peek (11:08)
  Play All or select from trailers for “Discover Digital HD”, Paper Towns, The Best of Me, Far from the Madding Crowd, Safe Haven, and If I Stay.

Final Thoughts:

The Longest Ride feels like a retread of several other Nicholas Sparks films, and tries to squeeze too many different stories into one film, and each of these finds different levels of success. I thoroughly enjoyed the bull riding aspects of the film and found these scenes to be quite exciting. But overall I found the film a bit disjointed and it felt like some of the storylines were never quite resolved. Sparks fans should enjoy the two love stories—particularly the steamy scene between Eastwood and Robertson (there is even an extended version on the Blu-ray)—and will be pleased by the quality presentation and supplements on the Blu-ray. Others may want to rent the film first before doing a blind buy.