Live by Night (2017)

Review

128min

Genre:       Crime, Drama

Director:    Ben Affleck

Cast:         Ben Affleck, Zoe Saldana, Sienna Miller…and more

Writers:     Ben Affleck and Dennis Lehane

-Synopsis-

Ben Affleck returns to the director’s chair and stars as an ambitious but morally conflicted prohibition era gangster trying to get his piece of the American dream, but his mob “paradise” has a heavy price in this gritty 1920s crime period drama based on the award-winning novel by Dennis Lehane.

After cutting his directorial teeth on gritty contemporary crime dramas like ‘Gone Baby Gone’ and ‘The Town’, Affleck ups the stakes and the budget in this passion-project homage to the Hollywood period gangster flick, influenced by everything from “golden age” classics like ‘The Racket’ and ‘The Roaring Twenties’, to Sergio Leone’s ‘Once Upon a Time in America’ and more recent fare like 2012’s ‘Lawless’.

Set in prohibition era USA through the 1920s and into the early 30s, ‘Live by Night’ tells the story of “Joe Coughlin”; a World War I veteran turned Boston outlaw who becomes unwittingly embroiled with the local mob, only to then become a reluctant gangster and build a new life as a bootlegger in the warmer climes of Florida. But the past is never far as he struggles to balance love & business with his skewed morality, and tries to overcome the obstacles on the long and winding road to the “American dream” in this lavish gangster odyssey.

Thanks to exceptional production and costume design, plus the services of legendary cinematographer and regular Oliver Stone and Martin Scorsese collaborator Robert Richardson (Platoon, Django Unchained), this is a beautiful looking film, balanced by a lovely score from Affleck’s go-to composer Harry Gregson-Williams (Gone Baby Gone, The Martian). And Affleck is blessed by an eclectic cast of talented performers; from Brendan Gleeson as “Coughlin’s” hard-nosed Boston cop father and Chris Cooper as the local Florida police chief, to leading-lady stars like Zoe Saldana as his business partner/love interest and Sienna Miller as the wild old flame.

‘Live by Night’ is an ambitious project from its writer/director/producer/star Ben Affleck, who takes a second crack at a Dennis Lehane crime novel after 2007’s ‘Gone Baby Gone’, but this period gangster epic strives to operate on many levels. Not only is this a gritty gangster flick and sprawling period crime drama, but also a love story and character melodrama, all while layering in some social commentary on power and the realities of the “American Dream”, wrapped up in a historical socio-political context which reflects today’s contentious discussion of race in America.

But ‘Live by Night’ is unconvincing and uncompelling in virtually all of its many facets, ultimately proving just too much for one man to take on… and Affleck will no doubt take the hit for all of the film’s shortcomings. From the stop/start pace and uneven tone to the morally confused and unconvincing reluctant “hero gangster” central narrative, the film sparks but is never really set-alight and just doesn’t do enough with an already overprescribed genre, which isn’t helped by the fact that all the main story beats are fairly familiar and predictable from the start.

Perhaps the film’s biggest Achilles heel though is the central performance in the role of “Joe Coughlin”, which required a tour-de-force to hold the story together and inject some gravitas into the narrative. But Affleck just doesn’t have the versatility or the intensity to be convincing in both the moments which require cold menace and emotional inner conflict, and ultimately he just isn’t the right actor for the part. Maybe Affleck’s attention was being pulled in several different directions causing his performance to suffer, and perhaps he would have been better served casting someone else as the lead, but that would have taken away his dream of starring in a period gangster flick and the main reason for making the film in the first place.

Ultimately ‘Live by Night’ amounts to an ambitious and noble effort but just too much for one man to handle, effectively making it an occasionally gripping and good-looking gritty period crime drama, with little emotional resonance and characters who just don’t captivate or leave a lasting impression, and with a socio-political context which ends up being more interesting than the drama… if a little contrived.

The Bottom Line…

Ben Affleck’s fourth directorial outing is an ambitious undertaking which ultimately proves a bridge too far for its superstar lead, as his quadruple duty takes too much away from his performance and the narrative in this underwhelming Dennis Lehane adaptation. Despite being blessed by a strong supporting cast and stunning visuals, not to mention a fascinating historical context, ‘Live by Night’ never really elevates itself above a moderately captivating gritty crime drama, and lavish homage to a classic movie genre which has seen better days.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Lawless (2012)

In early 1930s rural Virgina, the “Bondurant” brothers are on a collision course with corrupt local authorities and a menacing new federal deputy, when their bootlegging activities and growing outlaw reputation begin to raise too many eyebrows in John Hillcoat’s all-star gritty crime drama.

Directed by John Hillcoat and starring Tom Hardy, Jessica Chastain and Shia LaBeouf among others.

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