Live By Night: Review

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Director: Ben Affleck
Cast: Ben Affleck, Brendan Gleeson, Sienna Miller, Zoe Saldana, Chris Cooper, Elle Fanning


For want of a better phrase, one may have to settle for the oxymoronic ‘extremely average’ to describe Ben Affleck’s adaption of Dennis Lehane’s prohibition-era gangster novel of the same name. A seemingly auspicious movie from its promising cast and encouraging subject matter, it’s made hollow by consistently underwhelming, chiefly down to Affleck’s lead – a protagonist with total lack of character.

Irish-Bostonian Joe Coughlin (Affleck) is besotted with Emma Gould (Miller), the mistress of infamous gangster Albert White. Joe’s police captain father (Gleeson) disapproves, and warns him against the potential slippery slope of crimes and misdemeanours that lingers. This relationship is what entangles Joe in unlawful activity and what ensues is the ‘tragic’ downfall of a man who sincerely believed his life would be in no way that of a wrongdoer.

Perhaps a poor man’s ‘The Godfather’, Live By Night entertains with the promise of high-octane action, a rich web of betrayal and deceit, and the ever-present notion of a protagonist with a predetermined and inevitable life of crime. The plot follows the gradual escalation of Joe’s gangster prowess. He spends time dabbling as an enforcer in a Tampa rum empire, gets in hot water with the Ku Klux Klan, and invests in building a casino that never quite comes into fruition.

The pace ‘picks up’- at risk of overselling the movie- when Joe moves to Tampa. An uninspiring relationship with Graciela Corrales (Saldana) begins, but when Cooper’s Sheriff Irving Figgis is introduced, as is the dominant and most compelling storyline. Joe makes a deal with Figgis regarding his brother-in law, an extremist member of the KKK who wreaks havoc in Joe’s organisation with bombing and murder. This presents Elle Fanning’s character, Loretta, Figgis’ daughter, and possibly the most enthralling person in the movie. None of the performances were anything to write home about, barely enough to fill a blog post with, but Fanning was at least the most memorable as a heroin-addicted prostitute turned evangelistic missionary, who jeopardises Joe’s plans to build a casino with her powerful preaching. She's got a great deal more pizzazz than Affleck himself.

Despite the favourable components that Live By Night offers, you leave unfulfilled, yet not wholly disappointed. It is completely inoffensive, but under delivers, and is easily Affleck’s worst cinematic endeavour. If only it was just slightly more inadequate, then this reviewer would have a little more to discuss.

MS

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