Live By Night
Director: Ben Affleck
Talent: Ben Affleck, Elle Fanning, Brendan Gleeson, Sienna Miller
Released: 13th January
Joe Coughlin (Affleck) returns from World War I and vows never to be under any man’s command again. He strikes out on his own as an outlaw who steals from whomever he pleases. He doesn’t want to be a gangster but… good intentions, road to hell, etc., etc.
Live By Night attempts to slot itself in amongst the great gangster epics, but unfortunately it just doesn’t pass muster. There are shades of the classic Godfather trilogy, Once Upon A Time in America and newer reference points such as Miller’s Crossing, and so on. But in its homaging, Live by Night only highlights its own shortcomings. This is a handsome film, but a slapdash one, poorly edited and put together. The span of time and the rise of Coughlin through the ranks of criminality are presented largely through voice-over — of which there is a lot — presumably to fill in sequences that weren’t filmed due to a hurried production cycle.
At times, the film feels more like a Ben Affleck audio book than a movie proper. Live by Night is not an epic by any stretch. It is a small-scale, half-baked, nice-looking but ultimately disappointing effort from Affleck, who can do much better.
Words – Luke Maxwell
