'Live By Night' - Movie Review

'Live by Night' lacks focus and tries for too much and as a result the sprawl about ambition, lost ideals, corrupt and murderous is quite messy and riddled with genre effects that seem earnest but have nothing new to say

'Live By Night'
A; Cime/Drama/Thriller
Director: Ben Affleck
Cast: Ben Affleck, Sienna Miller, Zoe Saldana, Elle Fanning, Chris Cooper, Scott Eastwood, Chris Messina, Brendan Gleeson, Remo Girone
Rating: 

Originally meant to be a Leonardo DiCaprio vehicle, (who continues on as producer) Affleck's second screen adaptation of a Dennis Lehane novel, (following 'Gone Baby Gone')- in which he scripts, directs and acts, is a prohibition era crime thriller that has it’s fair share of violence and gore.

Disillusioned by his experiences as a soldier in World War I, Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck), son of a Boston Cop, returns home an outlaw, vowing to stay put on the wrong side of the law. Coughlin gains attention from Irish Mob Boss Albert White (Robert Glenister), after 10 years of running a robbery operation - White approaches him to help quell the mob war against Italian mob Boss Maso Pescatore (Remo Gerone). Joe declines but inevitably he gets pulled in. His clandestine relationship with White’s mistress, Emma Gould (Sienna Miller) sets him on a path to self-destruction. Joe's father, Police Deputy Superintendent Thomas Coughlin (Brendan Gleeson), does his best to keep his son away from the dangerous liaison but a bank-heist getaway goes horribly wrong and a double cross lands Joe in prison while Emma is believed to have been killed.

Sienna Miller and Brendan Gleeson make solid impressions despite their brief roles while Ben Affleck appears to have lost his acting mojo - here he is a little too dispassionate for comfort.

'Live by Night' lacks focus and tries for too much and as a result the sprawl about ambition, lost ideals, corrupt and murderous is quite messy and riddled with genre effects that seem earnest but have nothing new to say.

While the atmospherics, costumes, art direction , camerawork are competent, it’s the lack of perspicacity in the telling that makes this effort less than completely engaging!

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