Ben Affleck goes up against gangsters and the KKK in Live by Night.

Post date: Jan 16, 2017 3:20:00 PM

By: Robby Timmler, Staff Writer

Posted January 16th, 2017

Ben Affleck stars, writes, and directs Live by Night that’s about boston thug , Joe Coughlin (played by Ben Affleck) in the 1920s, who joins italian gangster Anthony Servidone (played by Massi Furlan) to get to ri Irish gangster Albert White (played by Robert Glenister) who sent Joe to jail and killed his lover Emma Gould (played by Sienna Miller) who was also Albert’s lover. Joe does this to cripple Albert’s bootlegging business and kill him. So Anthony sends Joe to Tampa to take care of his bootlegging business, where he meets Graciela (played by Zoe Saldana) the sister of the Cuban gang leader in Tampa, who shows Joe around Tampo and falls in love with him. Then suddenly Joe has to take on the KKK because they have been shooting his speakeasies and also the local religious group leaded by the sheriff's daughter, Loretta Figgis (played by Elle Fanning) who has been condemning alcohol and gambling, which ruins Joe’s business.

Live by Night has decent performances and some nice costume design, but it’s not enough to truly save itself from its lack of character and dullness. Live by Night tries to set up its story in its first act, when it could have been shortened and replaced with more character development. The film has dull characters and you truly don’t care what happens to them. This causes the film to lack excitement or an entertainment value whatsoever. The only good thing I can say about Live by Night is that some of the performances are fine and the smooth costume design that puts you in the time period, but they couldn’t save the film. Plus it has a cool shoot out at the end of the film that was chilling and amazing. Live by Night gets 4/10 stars.