First, the Recap:
At what price does power come? For young, up-and-coming criminal Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck), that question isn’t truly on his mind as he works his way upwards in 1926 Boston during the height of Prohibition-era corruption and the underground liquor trade. Despite being the son of respected police officer father, Thomas (Brendan Gleeson), Joe soon finds himself rubbing shoulders with the two top bosses in town–Albert White (Robert Glenister) on the Irish side and Maso Pescatore (Remo Girone) on the Italian side. With loyalty only to money and romancing White’s girlfriend Emma Gould (Sienna Miller), things remain tense until circumstances force Joe to relocate to Florida where he sets up shop in Pescatore’s employ. But even with arrangements with the local law, Sherriff Figgis (Chris Cooper), events spiral out of control as Joe finds his interests under siege from competition, the Ku Klux Klan, and even Figgis’ daughter, Loretta (Elle Fanning). With only a new wife, Graciela (Zoe Saldana) keeping him somewhat grounded, it remains to be seen if Joe can hold on or be done in.
Worth Seeing: Yes and No
Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, Affleck takes not only the lead role here, but director/co-writer/producer duties as well, delivering a stylish but not wholly original or “wow”-factor inducing effort, despite having the original source material to go by. The film simply doesn’t, in itself, cover any new ground, which is admittedly harder and harder to see occur in Hollywood these days as it is. How many pics have we viewed about Prohibition-era gangsters and their dastardly dealings, double-crosses, and violent reprisals against those that wrong them? Now, the film does have some intense gun fights and car chases, as well as some decent moments of solid drama, mainly to the credit of the who’s who of lead/character actors above, plus many others, and the performances they turn in. Affleck himself is good as well, but again, overall, been there done this. Honestly if not FOR the cast presented here, this film very much would have fallen into even deeper obscurity than it did over its first wide-release weekend, where it fell into a dismal 11th spot.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
