Live By Night

Live By Night

Starring Ben Affleck, Zoe Saldana, Elle Fanning, Sienna Miller

Directed by Ben Affleck

The Story:
In Boston in the late 20s, Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck) is a World War I vet and the son of distinguished police chief Thomas Coughlin (Brendan Gleeson), but he's turned to the world of crime and is involved with Emma Gould (Sienna Miller), the girlfriend of gangster Albert White (Robert Glenister).  Their relationship is discovered, and Joe is sentenced to three years in jail for the deaths of three police officers.

After getting out of prison, Joe joins White's rival gang boss Maso Pescatore (Remo Girone), who sends him to Florida to to run Pescatore's rum empire and also get revenge against White, who is muscling in on his business in Tampa.  He moves down there with his right hand man, falls in love with Graciela Corrales (Zoe Saldana), befriends Sheriff Figgis (Chris Cooper), meets his daughter Loretta (Elle Fanning), and runs afoul of the Ku Klux Klan, who doesn't approve of him being with a non-white woman, as well as him being Catholic.  As he rises among the ranks and begins to introduce gambling to the town, he runs into resistance and it could ultimately lead to his downfall.

The Synopsis:
"Goodfellas," "The Departed," "Casino," "The Godfather," "The Godfather Part II," "The Untouchables."  All classic mobster gangster films that have withstood the test of time and are some of the most prolific, powerful, and piercing pieces of cinema.  They all have compelling characters, a rich, full story, fascinating costume designs and production values, and violence.  Ben Affleck hoped that his fourth directorial film, "Live By Night," would rise to the ranks of such classic mobster movies.

Unfortunately, it will not.

Which is a shame, because Affleck has really showed himself to be a master behind the camera.  His previous directorial works - "Gone Baby Gone," "The Town" and "Argo" - were all met with critical and audience success, earned a total of nine Oscar nominations, and won three (all from "Argo" - Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Achievement in Film Editing, and Best Picture of the Year).  It seemed like a no-brainer that "Live By Night" would continue his critical success, but alas it was not meant to be.  What we got instead was a muddied mess of a tale that dragged on, gave one-note characters, offered no sensible reasoning for their actions, and centered around a non-charismatic lead.

The film - based off a book by Dennis Lehane (who also wrote "Gone Baby Gone," "Mystic River" and "Shudder Island") - failed to deliver the same powerful stories we've come to know from the author.  It was as if we were watching a skeleton of previous great mobster films, a movie that tried to achieve greatness but fell off the ladder after the second rung.  Once again, on paper, this looked like a surefire hit.  So what went wrong?

Basically it all falls on the shoulders of Ben Affleck.  His character wasn't unlikable, but he wasn't likable either.  He was the star of the show, yet felt like a background character.  He gave such a wooden, boring, dull performance that it hardly registered.  He runs a successful rum bracket, he falls in love twice, he tries to get gambling legalized, he goes against mobsters and the KKK, and yet it's all just dreadfully dull.  It's like he didn't want to do the movie (he did take time off to star in "Gone Girl" so that could've been an indication he didn't really have a passion for it), which is a shame because he's much better than this.

The supporting actors - all brilliant in their own right - also weren't given much to work with, save one.  Saldana is only in the film for about fifteen minutes, yet she doesn't have anything to work with, and you're puzzled at her actions.  She falls in love with Coughlin, but we don't know why or how - it just happened.  Their chemistry is about as effective as a first grader's attempt to make their own chemistry set, and you don't feel the love between them at all.  Sienna Miller does alright as the mobster's girl who's secretly dating another man, but she performs it in a way that you've seen in pretty much any movie where that triangle occurs. 

The only performance of note is that of Dakota Fanning's sister, Elle.  She lights up the screen as Loretta Figgis, a girl who wants to go to Hollywood to achieve fame, but like most girls gets caught up in drugs and prostitution instead.  She returns home, where she finds a newfound faith in God and becomes a preacher against gambling in Florida, and serves as the biggest hurdle Joe has to face.  She delivers to best all around performance, going from a shy quiet girl to an outspoken advocate for what's right, yet still harboring her own disbelief. 

The only other decent thing about the film is the costumes and production design.  Affleck does a great job in teleporting us back to the 20s with flapper girls, fedoras, and fantastic set pieces and vehicle designs.  However, a film with great production values and no story is like receiving a beautifully wrapped package, only to find nothing inside.

The Summary:
Everything seemed to be so right - a critically acclaimed director, a deeply passionate author who's written some of the most spellbinding works in recent memory, and a magical cast - but ultimately "Live By Night" failed to uphold to the greatness it could've been.

The Score: B-