Ben Affleck's career has been a bit of a roller coaster. He burst onto the Hollywood scene when him and Damon wrote and starred in Good Will Hunting. Then, he latched onto friend Kevin Smith's filmography starring in nearly every movie in the mid 90s that Smith put out. Then... it started to get a bit rocky. Bombs like Reindeer Games, Bounce, Pearl Harbor, Changing Lanes, Daredevil, Gigli, Jersey Girl and Surviving Christmas all seemed to collectively put a nail in the coffin that is Ben Affleck's career. He took a few years off then came back with a bang as director of Gone Baby Gone, followed by The Town then Argo and the Ben Affleck we knew was gone and a new, talented Affleck had emerged. Three movies with Affleck in the director's chair and each one better than the last. So, needless to say when it was announced that Affleck was directing a gangster movie starring him... it had a bit to live up to. And while Affleck movies of 2016 weren't critically acclaimed (Batman v. Superman was warranted... The Accountant was much better than critics said), Live By Night isn't a terrible movie, but it is certainly not his strongest outing.
Without doing much internet research because I just don't care enough... Live By Night tells the (fictional?) story of Joe Coughlin, a crony working for an Irish mobster in the 40s. Stupidly, he decides to take Irish mobster's girlfriend (Sienna Miller) for himself. Obviously this doesn't go well for ol' Joe, so he flees to Florida to work with the Cubans running illegal rum during prohibition. There he meets another girl (Zoe Saldana), a psycho girl (Elle Fanning), and her police chief father (Chris Cooper). Shit gets a little crazy between the KKK trying to take them down and the Italian mafia trying to take them down. Joe rises in power and turns from "a good man" to a stone-cold killer. If the plot sounds murky (beyond my own apathy in writing a plot synopsis), then you're right. There are multiple years of Joe's life crammed into one movie, and it all feels a bit disjointed.
Gangster movies are tough to make nowadays. After The Godfather and Goodfellas every movie until 2006 just seemed like a cheap knockoff. Hell, even Scorsese's own Casino is just 'okay'. The Departed really gave the gangster movie the resurgence it needed, but again, the movies that followed (We Own The Night, American Gangster, Public Enemies, Gangster Squad, Black Mass) were all just movies trying to cash in on the same idea and never really hit stride with the greats. Live By Night is no different. It's not that next great gangster flick, but it's also not garbage, either. There are several moments in the film that are quite entertaining and the violence is definitely on a Scorsese level. What's really missing from the movie is someone to like. Sure, we've got Joe and he's our protagonist that we're supposed to follow and care about, but he's just not a likable guy. It has nothing to do with his moral code or actions taken by him in the film, but more to do with Ben Affleck's portrayal. Joe is without charisma, without humor, without any human charm whatsoever. He's dull and quiet and not the type of protag we want in a movie like this. When the movie first came to fruition, Leo DiCaprio was supposed to play Joe (he later had to drop out, but stayed on as Producer), who would've at least given Joe a little more life and the movie a little more umph.
Then, there's the women. The women in Live By Night don't really do much, especially Zoe Saldana. But before here there's Sienna Miller who is essentially the inciting incident that leads Joe down to Florida from Boston. Then, there's Saldana who, when first meeting her, gives the illusion of a tough, independent woman who didn't need no man and could fight her own battles. Soon after, she's relegated to love interest and background noise. Finally, there's the Fanning girl whose character is batshit insane, but even she isn't utilized to the full potential. There really are no characters to latch onto and root for... or even loathe. Good gangster movies present a villain who is loathsome, but also someone you can't wait to return in the next scene (ie., Jack Nicholson in The Departed, Joe Pesci in Goodfellas).
But, the movie is okay. Once you get through the sludge of politics and relationship bullshit, there's some pretty stellar gunfights and verbal tête-à-têtes. You can tell that Scorsese was definitely an inspiration for Affleck on this film. The one thing I can give him credit for, however, is nothing feels inauthentic. Every moment, every character feels real instead of falling back on caricatures like a lot of sub-par gangster movies. I just think that Affleck was the wrong choice to play the lead role. His direction was spot on, but, like the Affleck of old, his acting abilities can get in the way of a movie deserving better. Not that he isn't a decent actor, but there's just something about him where if he makes a certain acting choice, it can nearly ruin the entire character. That's almost what happens here. Unfortunately, also for Affleck, the movie kind of got pushed to the side when other, stronger films came out at the end of 2016 and this movie never really stood a chance. I got to watch it via DVD screener because it didn't last more than two weeks in theaters. It's a nothing-good-at-Redbox-so-I'll-get-this-one type of film that probably deserved a little better.
C
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