Boston, 1926. The '20s are roaring. Liquor is flowing, bullets are flying, and one man sets out to make his mark on the world. Prohibition has given rise to an endless network of underground distilleries, speakeasies, gangsters, and corrupt cops. Joe Coughlin, the youngest son of a prominent Boston police captain, has long since turned his back on his strict and proper upbringing. Now having graduated from a childhood of petty theft to a career in the pay of the city's most fearsome mobsters, Joe enjoys the spoils, thrills, and notoriety of being an outlaw. But life on the dark side carries a heavy price. In a time when ruthless men of ambition, armed with cash, illegal booze, and guns, battle for control, no one-neither family nor friend, enemy nor lover-can be trusted. Beyond money and power, even the threat of prison, one fate seems most likely for men like Joe: an early death. But until that day, he and his friends are determined to live life to the hilt. Joe embarks on a dizzying journey up the ladder of organized crime that takes him from the flash of Jazz Age Boston to the sensual shimmer of Tampa's Latin Quarter to the sizzling streets of Cuba. Live by Night is a riveting epic layered with a diverse cast of loyal friends and callous enemies, tough rumrunners and sultry femmes fatales, Bible-quoting evangelists and cruel Klansmen, all battling for survival and their piece of the American dream. At once a sweeping love story and a compelling saga of revenge, it is a spellbinding tour de force of betrayal and redemption, music and murder, that brings fully to life a bygone era when sin was cause for celebration and vice was a national virtue. A group of Boston-bred gangsters set up shop in balmy Florida during the Prohibition era, facing off against the competition and the Ku Klux Klan. It's hard to expect the director Ben Affleck to crash and burn in such a sad disappointing manner. He gave us "Argo", "Gone Baby Gone" and "The Town", outstanding works of pure delight, great acting and surprisingly effective directing. The mentioned films had me at the edge of my seat, they provided spectacular moments of thrill and had positive relevance to life. "Live by Night" however was a struggle to endure by leaving me empty and tired, giving me less than expected and not carrying any kind of important relevance to anything. Problem is: it's the first time Mr. Affleck does the four main jobs on the same film, a task only destined to the likes of Chaplin, Welles or Beatty: writer, director, lead actor and producer. In the previous works, he always stopped with three functions and the results were brilliant. By adding one more function, he finally failed in possibly all accounts in a year that proved as one of his hardest (personal problems that were news at the end of the year) yet most prolific: the surprising "The Accountant" and the towering effort "Batman v. Superman" (and trust me, here's a film that didn't deserve half of the poor criticism is getting. The Ultimate Edition is a fine courageous 3-hour epic that works). So, a case of too much work that ruined the one thing he had under almost complete control? Possibly. And it breaks my heart in thumbing this down because a lot of people I admire are part of it and even though they form the best elements of the picture, they don't save it from its lack of goodness. <br/><br/>"Live by Night" attempts to create a film noir atmosphere tailored with a complex web of characters and situations we don't like, don't fully understand and don't get any important perspective on why such story was needed to be told. I'm positively sure that Dennis Lehave novel might have something worth reading since he's a creative writer and of full hands when it comes to create something worth reading. Affleck gets all the wrong choices for someone as engaging as Lehane is. Unbereably dark cinematography, a suitable editing for action sequences but completely erratic for the dramatic ones; a peace and quiet that doesn't fit the movie, ruins its pace and makes it only worth seeing because it turns out to be the snooze fest of the year. Painfully tedious. The first half hour still has some mystery and we go along just fine; what comes from there it's just a strange roller-coaster that doesn't offer thrills, a point to make and or something to praise. <br/><br/>But it all must fall on Affleck's back. Vanity and greed were his ultimate sins here. Why he had to make everything in this picture? In fact, I don't think there's any function for him at all in this film except producing. The script is weak, the lines written are dull and barely work; his direction of actors is suitable BUT he gave himself the lead role, possibly one of the dumbest lead characters I've ever seen and the amount of mistakes he makes during the film just makes him someone you don't care. Joe Coughlin knows how to pull off a heist but he's too naive when it comes to the matters of heart. And then we're trapped into countless problems: I'm not sure if Emma is really a low character that doesn't provide any appeal to me or if it's Sienna Miller characterization that didn't help me at all. Whatever the case, beauty it's in the eyes of beholder and love is only in someone's heart and I failed to understand why he cared for her. As for his leading role, oh Ben…the character is bland, cold and for the very few things he says about himself, you wonder if he isn't being too harsh on himself or too harsh about life; and someone with that mindset, why not shooting himself instead of going through life like a poor excuse for a human being. <br/><br/>In terms of expectation vs. reality, "Live by Night" is a disappointment of near-epic proportions. The supporting cast makes the film (Brendan Gleeson, Chris Cooper, Chris Messina for some forced comic relief and even Clark Gregg's cameo); the production quality in technical aspects is fine but I hated the photography. The minor action sequences are worthy of praise - the car chase after the bank robbery and the final hotel shootout. But for what the film tried to show it wasn't enough for me to like it. What was the main thing here? That there's no way a good man can't be good again just because he's seen the horrors of war? That it's impossible to go through life without having to bow to someone more powerful than you? That matters of heart can't never go along with matters of business? There's no ultimate gain despite we're learning the lessons it shows. Perhaps the lesson is: make a movie but try not to overwork yourself in all functions because you'll overlook one aspect while trying to make it right with the others. It doesn't work unless you have perfect symmetry of functions. 5/10 There are some very poor films being made nowadays that resort to silly or gratuitous violence (if there is such a thing) with stories that are pure fancy and do not reflect the times or anything close to it. Overlay that with patently fake explosions and special effects that just cheapen the film and you are left with something that it is easy to walk out of at half time. I had just had enough of the rattling machine guns and stupid macho posturing.<br/><br/>It becomes very annoying when you see how much money is spend on this tripe when they could make more films like Robert Redford's "The Company you Keep", for example that has no special effects just clever and thought provoking dialogue. Overstuffed and disappointing, Live By Night wastes a strong supporting cast. It's not a total loss, but it doesn’t hold up against the rest of Affleck’s filmography.
Sallirayna replied
369 weeks ago