Review of Live by Night (2016) by John M — 14 Feb 2017

Ben Affleck writes, produces, and stars in this adaptation of Dennis Lehane's sprawling crime novel centering on the prodigal son of a prominent police chief, and his gradual descent into the criminal underworld.

With source material from a writer as brilliant as Dennis Lehane, and directed by the ever dependable Ben Affleck, "Live by Night" was a movie that I was really looking forward to despite some mixed reviews. Affleck had shown such flawless form in his three previous directorial attempts, Gone Baby Gone, The Town and Academy Award winning Argo, that the anticipation of his adaption of a Dennis Lehane novel was palpable (I was even willing to give him a pass if it wasn't up to the standard of his previous works). What results in "Live by Night" is not a classic of Argo proportions or a dud as I had feared but something somewhere in between.

The story as expected by any Dennis Lehane source material keeps the audience riveted from the first scene to the last with the shady underworld of prohibition era Boston and then Florida brilliantly depicted by first rate production values, attractive cinematography and a solid, dependable support cast on top of their game. Brendan Gleeson, Chris Messina, Elle Fanning and Chris Cooper in particular all raise the value of this production such are there strong performances. A negative note has to be added at this point however with the mention of Sienna Miller's "honourable" attempt at an Irish accent. It's not that she didn't succeed in mimicking the accent, it's just the combination of various regional accents into one, that reduces her character's plausability and likeability throughout and the movie somewhat suffers as a result.

But I'm nitpicking, for a solid, visually stunning, action packed, well told tale with a talented cast in the hands of a solid and consistent director, "Live by Night" is a movie that's well worth catching.