MovieChat Forums > Live by Night (2017) Discussion > Deserves more respect

Deserves more respect

posted 4 years ago by PrimeMinisterX (8708)
2 replies | jump to latest

I missed this film when it first came out but ran across it last night on HBO Max and decided to give it a look. Before watching it I glanced at the RT scores and saw that the critics' score was 35% and the audience score was only 42%. Having now seen the movie, I think it certainly warrants higher scores.

While the film may not be one of the great of the gangster genre, it's certainly a good, well-made movie. The story, I felt, was unique and original and it felt like something different from the usual mob stuff that screenwriters give us, especially considering the Florida setting that much of the film takes place in. I thought the characters were well-written and the cast was excellent. And the production design is actually quite amazing and does an excellent job of bringing the period in which the film is set to life.

Affleck both stars and directs here, and I think he does a fine job pulling all the film's elements together. I feel a little bad for him that the film both tanked at the box office and was disrespected by critics and audiences. I really think that he, and the film, deserve better than that. It's a good movie.

[–] BourbonKing (5777) 4 years ago

The movie flows very awkwardly though. It almost feels like the writers and Ben decided to revise the history of organized crime during prohibition by upgrading the violence to a more 80s Crack Cocaine street war vibe. At the end of the movie it feels like we didn't learn anything about his character or why he was involved with crime to begin with because his redemption felt contrived.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8708) 4 years ago

I'm not sure I got that feeling, of it flowing awkwardly. But you may be onto something regarding trying to merge something like a Scarface vibe with a story of gangsters in the Depression Era. I didn't think of that as I was watching it but I can see it now that you mention it. I'm not sure I think that's necessarily a bad thing though. If anything it helped the film feel unique and not like your generic mob movie.

Regarding his character, we were told in the beginning why he got involved with crime: his time in the war disillusioned him with authority and taking orders and he decided that once he got back home he wasn't going to do that shit anymore. I guess for him that meant being an outlaw.

I think the main thrust of the story, in regard to his character, was that he may be involved with criminality but he wasn't ultimately a bad guy. Rather, he was a decent guy who had gotten involved in a world where many of the people he rubbed shoulders were genuinely cold, ruthless characters. Despite living in the shadowy underworld, he still had a sense of right and wrong. As the plot unfolds he ultimately has to confront the question within himself of whether or not he's going to cross the line and become like the men around him--which we see reach its apex in his dealings with Elle Fanning's character--and then he has to face the consequences of that decision.