Review of Live by Night (2016) by Christian M — 17 Jan 2017

Ben Affleck's Live By Night has certainly propelled 2017 into a solid start for films!

Affleck once again delivers on the promise of making great movies as we've previously seen with Argo, The Town and Gone Bay Gone and whilst my enthusiasm for Live By Night is high, I can't quite say it's his best film - In fact I'd go ahead and say that this is Affleck's weakest directed film yet at the same time it manages to be something terrific.

The film is a little over 2 hours long and that's perhaps my biggest gripe with it...It's way too short! Sometimes it'd jump from scene to scene not giving you enough time with the characters it sets up for you to support so depending on who you are as an audience member you'll either care or you won't and that's a huge drawback. Who knows, if this was perhaps an hour and half longer with more substance to it we'd be talking about this generations Once Upon A Time In America but what we got was something closer to Gangster Squad.

Enjoyable and sometimes brimming with excellence, Live By Night can't quite retain all of the special ingredients that made previous Affleck films so great but it's a radiant thrill ride nonetheless.