In the end, I think is a good movie. The resolution is great at every level.But the truth is the first act is quite boring. A lot of characters are presented with (boring) care. After the work is done (and it feels like work, which is quite awful, probably), the movie starts to pick up in tensionThe third act is really great and makes the movie what it is.The performances are just fine in my opinion. Professional might be the right word. So... If you like Ben Afflect, you have to see this If you DISlike Ben Afflect, you better not see it If you are indiferent to him, I recommend it

Very lavish sets. The Godfather mixed with Gone with the Wind in set design. Sadly Ben Affleck isn't worthy of the effort that went into the props,locations & vintage customs. What a waste,you could have remade Godfather 1,2 & 3 with the recycled props, costumes & extras . Affleck is bland ,boring & miscast...he's to much of himself.He can't switch out of his own wooden personality especially as he ages...that dimpled cuteness & boyish charm has finally faded.His character should be selling insurance in 1930's Miami instead of bootlegging Gin.I know this review is harsh,but as a career consular he should stick with dry romantic comedies...from the late 1990's. Now if he was a fly fisherman next to a gangster hideout "River Runs Through the Speakeasy" his range of emotions could be better utilized. His method acting is a perfect rendition of a Wall Street yuppie robbing your pension fund circa 2000-2008 ...not a 1930's Irish gangster. Affleck pretending to be tough guy getaway driver in Chicago...it's funny.Mr. Dimples also adds religion & race relations...the dujour of Hollywood for the past decade. But it all falls flat. Snooze-fest flat on the couch flat. I napped & one hour latter I felt I hadn't missed anything except a change of costumes, Should have called the move ZZZzzz.Affleck the stiff failed to make a classic..but he gainfully tries copying expensive scenes or moods taken straight outa "Once Upon a Time in America ,Miller's Crossing ,Road to Perdition"...at the cost of $65 million. I could have done the same for under $100 by copying YouTube clips of those classics.Actually Affleck is a gangster...$65 million,not a bad days work.

Strong performances by supporting actors and actresses, wonderful choreography, and exciting action make Live by Night (2016) a thrilling gangster flick despite Ben Affleck's uninspired acting. Affleck adapted the screenplay from a novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane. The film's genuine look and feel is no doubt attributable to the source material. Although the characters are not based on real people, they might as well have been. For his part, Lehane wrote the novel about rum running to show the "sexy side of Prohibition." Exotic, tropical locales, flashy clothes, fast cars, and excessive violence characterize both the novel and the film.This sprawling movie spans several decades and locations, from Boston to south Florida. As the film opens, Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck) is a WW1 veteran and bank robber in Boston. He falls in love with Emma Gould (Sienna Miller), mistress of Irish mob boss Albert White (Robert Glenister). Italian mob boss Maso Pescatore (Remo Girone) tries to blackmail Coughlin into killing Albert White. Unfortunately, Emma betrays him and White tries to have both her and Coughlin killed.After spending several years in prison for a bank robbery gone wrong, Coughlin approaches Pescatore and asks him to help get revenge on Albert White. Pescatore sends him to Ybor City, Tampa, Florida, where White had set up his own operation, to run his speakeasies and muscle out White.While there, Coughlin meets and marries a Cuban woman named Graciela Corrales (Zoe Saldana). He battles the KKK, other gangsters, hostile businessmen, and Evangelical Christians in his pursuit to corner the rum market and ultimately get Florida to legalize gambling so the mob can run its casinos. Coughlin and Pescatore come to blows in a bloody climax and Coughlin retires from his life of crime.Live by Night is ultimately about "what goes around, comes around." In several instances, characters' past decisions come back to haunt them, and their bad behavior is repaid with pain, suffering, and loss. No one escapes this movie unscathed, except perhaps for Coughlin's son, who I assume goes on to lead a normal life.The film's realism is refreshing, as is its style and attention to detail. Its chase scenes are fast and exciting, and even the report of Tommy guns is genuinely loud and intimidating. To be sure, there are a lot of clichés in this movie, but the clichés work—most of the time.In Live by Night, a conflict erupts between the mafia and the Ku Klux Klan in Florida. The 1920s Klan was predominantly located in the Midwest, not the South, but they did vehemently uphold Prohibition. A war between bootleggers and the Klan in Southern Illinois lends historical precedent to such a subplot. Unfortunately, Live by Night fell back on well-worn clichés about dumb, inbred hicks and missed an opportunity to add historical depth and nuance.I also found the love triangle subplot unconvincing. Infatuation with Emma Gould, a free-spirited Irish flapper, supposedly ties together Joe Coughlin and Albert White in Boston. After Coughlin and Emma's affair is revealed, White intends to kill both of them. Coughlin and White believe Emma drowns when the car she was in plunged into the river. Later, in Florida, Coughlin discovers Emma is alive and living in Miami when he sees her in the background of a photograph.Albert White also lives in Miami. Naturally, I assumed Emma followed him there or they reconnected somehow—because otherwise, why would she move to a city where her former lover was running a powerful criminal organization? When Coughlin confronts White with evidence of her apparent survival, however, the revelation completely shocks him. It's made clear earlier in the film that White considers Emma to be a disposable possession. Even if he believed her dead, why would he care if she was alive? Nothing we've seen indicates he was in love with her.Despite these flaws, Live by Night is a thoroughly entertaining gangster film populated by an interesting cast of characters. Whereas, in Public Enemies (2009), Johnny Depp's personality overshadowed that of his costars, Ben Affleck has no such effect. His costars are left to shine as he often fades into the background. Elle Fanning receives an honorable mention for her portrayal of fallen angel-turned prophet Loretta Figgis. Brendan Gleeson also gave a strong performance as Joe Coughlin's police captain father, Thomas Coughlin.

Had very low expectations for this, but it was a lot better than I thought it would be. Definitely one of my favorite gangster films, up there with things like Layer Cake. I kept waiting for it to get bad, wear out its welcome, but it was soundly made. My favorite part was the car chase, well done, with 30's era cars. That was a nice change of pace.