Director: Ben Affleck
Release Date: 13th January 2017
Rating: 15 (UK), R (USA)
Written, directed and produced by the lead himself, a run-of-the-mill, roaring '20's gangster flick lacking in imagination; a quickly-forgotten, unremarkable tale.
Our story begins in a glamourised 1920's Boston; Joe Coughlin (Affleck) is a WWI-veteran and small-time hoodlum with a nepotistic bail-out and a forbidden love-affair. After being recruited by Mafia boss Maso Pescatore, Joe heads down a road of money and privilege from his new-found criminal activities in Tampa. The film leads on to the atypical gangster gun fights, dodgy deals and 'business meetings' fuelled by whisky and cigars. Amidst this, somehow (and unsubtly) thrown in are storylines of Klansmen, heroin addiction and Christianity.
In all honesty, I don't really know what this film was attempting to achieve - a little bit of everything and a whole lot of nothing encased the 130 minute viewing, leaving me unsure to an extent what even happened. The (overly-) quick pacing in certain parts were unbalanced alongside the dull, awkward rest of the movie. I found myself almost wanting to take a well-deserved nap during the screening, for I felt that I wouldn't miss much and if I had would have woken up more than capable of still keeping up with the films' 'plot'.
Ben Affleck seemed a weak link in an already weak chain - his dry performance only made worse by his failure to direct the rest of the notably irritating cast (namely, Elle Fanning and Sienna Miller, although Zoe Saldana was disappointingly bland). Robert Glenister and Chris Cooper the only saviours among the acting standards here.
The costume was superbly cliche 1920's get-up, which whilst suited the tone of the film, made Affleck appear to be wearing his dads' suit and every female seemingly permanently overdressed for the occasion. The cinematography was not diabolical, however action shots alone allowed it to shine through. Notably, the action (when it happened) was pulled off fairly well, but for a gangster movie you would think there would be a lot more - particularly boring for a 'fast-paced action flick'.
I wasn't expecting a cinematic masterpiece from Live by Night, but I did expect a hell of a lot more from a man who has over two decades of industry experience. My advice to anyone looking for an action-packed badass gangster film is to check out The Godfather or Pulp Fiction and leave this be. A shoddy performance all-round.
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