Live by Night

Live by Night
by Ben Affleck (2016)

Joe Coughlin, a World War I veteran, embarks on a life of crime to easily gain wealth and power. Things will soon get very complicated for him.

“Tell me something. Do you really believe there’s such a thing as a noble man?”
“I’ve got nothing against noble men, but they rarely make it past forty.”
(Graciela Corrales & Joe Coughlin)

Gangster… by chance.

Joe Coughlin robs banks but wants nothing to do with killing or taking orders from anyone.
He sees himself as a bandit in a suit and tie, a kind of gentleman of crime.

Violence isn’t for him.

After all, being a World War I veteran, he’s already seen enough death and destruction and has developed a certain disdain for any kind of authority.

Thus, he can’t stand his father, the head of the Boston police, nor the mafia’s power that asks him to become an affiliate and once again follow someone’s orders.

All he wants is to act independently with a couple of trusted men. To move like a lone wolf, an outsider, in a corrupt and violent world he knows all too well.

But a man isn’t just made of rationality. There’s also passion, which often messes everything up and throws good intentions out the window.

Especially when you fall in love with an Irish boss’s mistress, and the feeling grows into an obsession, derailing all the plans you had previously made.

Then you dream of running away with her, you create dangerous entanglements with that world you wanted to leave out of your life experience, and you make mistakes.

And the price to pay can be very high.

Considerations

Ben Affleck draws inspiration from the eponymous novel by Dennis Lehane for this, his fourth feature film, Live by Night, and takes on the lead role himself (originally, it was supposed to be DiCaprio, who remains as a producer).
The intent is to create a noir as a tribute to the gangster films of the past, but the result is decidedly uneven when considering the film as a whole.

Some interesting sequences—most notably the spectacular long car chase at the end of a failed robbery attempt—aren’t enough to make the film take off.

The cinematography by Robert Richardson is excellent, as is the recreation of the Prohibition era, with a respectable cast that includes a somewhat underused Brendan Gleeson and the superb Remo Girone.

The packaging is top-notch, and Affleck confirms his skill in directing action scenes.

But what’s really missing are genuine emotions and engagement.

Everything feels like it’s been seen before, and the excessive length doesn’t help fully unleash the project’s potential.

A real shame, considering the story’s potential, which perhaps in other hands could have become something memorable.
Still, it’s recommended for a viewing.