Courtney Howard // Film Critic
When Ben Affleck gets behind the camera, magic happens. After his post-ARGO, post-THE TOWN, acting for other directors stint, he returns to fine form (naturally) with LIVE BY NIGHT, a prohibition-era gangster movie. So gather up the booze, take a load off and watch this trailer.
“Live by Night” is set in the roaring `20s when Prohibition hasn’t stopped the flow of booze in an underground network of gangster-run speakeasies. The opportunity to gain power and money is there for any man with enough ambition and nerve and Joe Coughlin, the son of the Boston Police Superintendent, long ago turned his back on his strict upbringing for the spoils of being an outlaw. But even among criminals there are rules and Joe breaks a big one: crossing a powerful mob boss by stealing his money and his moll. The fiery affair ends in tragedy, setting Joe on a path of revenge, ambition, romance and betrayal that propels him out of Boston and up the ladder of Tampa’s steamy rum-running underworld.
The film is based on the Dennis Lehane novel of the same name. If you remember, Lehane was the author behind MYSTIC RIVER, THE DROP, SHUTTER ISLAND and Affleck’s feature length directorial debut, GONE BABY GONE. As evidenced by this trailer, Affleck, who once again adapts Lehane’s work, meticulously spins the author’s work into something riveting.
LIVE BY NIGHT also stars Elle Fanning (“Maleficent”), Chris Messina (“Argo,” “The Mindy Project”), Sienna Miller (“American Sniper,” “Foxcatcher”), Zoe Saldana (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Avatar”), Chris Cooper (“Adaptation,” “The Town”), Max Casella, (“Inside Llewyn Davis,” “Blue Jasmine”), J.D. Evermore (“Dallas Buyers Club”), Remo Girone (“Heaven”), Robert Glenister (“Persuasion”), Anthony Michael Hall (“Foxcatcher”), Matthew Maher (“Gone Baby Gone”), Miguel J. Pimentel, Chris Sullivan (“The Drop”) and Titus Welliver (“Argo” “The Town”).
Guns, booze, dames and a killer cast… what could be better?!
LIVE BY NIGHT opens on January 13, 2017.
