Stone Cold made in 2005 was the first film in the Jesse Stone series of films adapted from the novels written by Robert Parker.Confusingly the next film Night Passage served as a prequel of Jess Stone, a high profile police detective with a drinking problem arriving to small town of Paradise in Massachusetts.Tom Selleck is the world weary Stone, a recovering alcoholic with an ex wife almost starting out again in Paradise as the police chief.Paradise is plagued with a random shooter who is getting personal with Chief Stone as his girlfriend is targeted. Jess Stone suspects a smarmy couple renting a house but he needs to prove it.There is also the shocking case of a high school student who is gang raped and threatened by fellow students. When he arrests one of the kids he has to deal with the angry father and their expensive attorney.There is not much mystery in this film. We quickly find out what happened to girl at school and the suspects are quickly identified. As for the random shooter, again Jess Stone realises who the suspects may be so it is case of how they get caught.It is a character piece about Stone himself, a flawed man who is a good cop with principles. The opening film was good, a slow burner but not dull although in real life such high profile shootings in a small town will have the FBI and mass media crawling all over the place.

This one is extremely disappointing, especially if you have seen other ones of the Jesse Stone series. The dialogue is pretty bad and clearly aimed to dish out as many memorable one-liners as possible. Although Stone still seems to be an alcoholic, that does not affect him at all, he is fully functional. At one point it becomes clear that he has been divorced five years ago, yet his ex still leaves messages on his answering machine ? His relationship to the prosecutor is way too cozy and lacks all tension now. The couple that randomly murders people is really just ridiculous and lacks all credibility. Each and every subplot is way too overdone. Why would high school football players rape a thirteen year old, small and fairly ugly, kid ? And if he KNOWS who the killers are, why are they not put under 24-hour surveillance immediately ? Oh yes, earlier on they film him, with a camera that cannot possibly be more than 20 feet away, and he does not notice ? And yet another lawyer coming on to him ? In summary, nothing makes sense in this film, there is too much stuff moving too fast. Too bad, since other Jesse Stone sequels are really good...

I kind of enjoyed this although it meandered all over the place and its characters were as lugubrious as the weather of the Canadian coast where the film was shot. It's extraordinary how little laughter is to be found in this sullen setting. Oh, there's sarcasm. Some of the characters trade wisecracks, but nobody laughs at them. By my count, there was one laugh. Or, rather, a brief, maniacal snort from a totally deranged serial killer, a woman, sounding like Natalie Wood's nervous snort. Nobody -- and I'm really thinking hard here -- nobody even SMILES except the two lunatics and, as I say, only ONE of them laughs.The film weaves together into a slightly uneasy plaid three unrelated stories. First, there is the serial killer business. Jane Adams is the female partner of this murdering yuppie couple and she's great. She has these wide and unblinking eyes -- not like a deer caught in the headlights but more like the headlights themselves. And she's always mincing around in these expensive slips. One of them is chocolate colored. I never even knew they MADE chocolate-colored slips in Singapore. When Tom Selleck, as the local police chief, first visits them as part of an innocent inquiry after the first body is found, the couple are amiable and sympathetic. So Selleck immediately leaps to the conclusion that they "did it." Credo quia absurdum.Second, there has been a gang bang involving a 16-year-old high school girl who refuses at first to squeal on her attackers because they threaten to release naked pictures of her to the press. The three high-school jocks who raped her are real sleazebags too. The most brutish of them is caught by a short, black policewoman smoking some grass in the boy's room. He blows smoke in her face, makes some contemptuous remarks, and brusquely brushes her aside, in return for which she maces him and puts him away. The young girl finally agrees to testify and the criminals suffer.Third, there is the underdeveloped relationship between Tom Selleck and the defense counsel for the rapists, Mimi Rogers. Their first meeting is hostile and lasts about twenty seconds. On their second meeting, a few nights later, Rogers calls on Selleck at his apartment, tells him she wants to get him into bed, hikes up her skirt and sits athwart his thighs. Then she gets up and leaves, saying, "Call me sometime. I'll get dressed up." Now, this may strike an ordinary viewer as improbable, but actually it may be quite common. It happens to me all the time.The narrative wanders around, gloomy, slow, and unfocused. Yet I enjoyed it because it's interesting to see Tom Selleck suppress his "Magnum, P.I." persona. Laconic, you know. Given to replies like, "yes" and "no." He's an alcoholic. The reason we know this is that several people, including Selleck, say so. We never actually see him drunk. And when he decides to quit drinking, there is no change in his dour personality.But then there's something fascinating about serial killers, even fictional ones. They've been done to death in feature films, but that preposterous quality remains. We can understand why a person might want to murder his or her spouse or friend. They are the people whom we've put into a position to hurt us. But a total stranger? These two lunatics make tapes of their victims before shooting them, and they choose them almost at random -- "He looks nice," says Jane Adams about Selleck before they try offing him. The killers are complete blanks here. They have no backgrounds and no discernible motives. (Selleck tells his subordinate to check every detail of their background but nothing comes of it. No results, and no LACK of results, is even brought up again.) Overall, what a comment on human nature -- and climate.

In the small town of Paradise, Massachusetts, the experienced Chief of Police Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck) is investigating a murder and a rape case. When a series of murders happen with the same "modus-operandi", Jesse discloses the identity of the killers. However, without the motive, proof or weapon, he has to wait for an opportunity to catch the murderers."Stone Cold' is a surprisingly good thriller, with an efficient direction, cold but beautiful cinematography and excellent screenplay with great lines, situations and characters. The most impressive is that the identities of the killers are disclosed in the very beginning of the film and they do not have a motive for their insane behavior. This simple, low paced and realistic thriller is centered in the dark, flawed and silent character of Jesse Stone, magnificently performed by Tom Selleck. Jesse is a suffered man with a past in Los Angeles, cynical, amoral, with drinking problems, that does not express his real emotions, but with a warm heart and great sense of justice. Mimi Rogers is also amazing in the role of the cynical lawyer Rita Fiore, and in spite of a minor participation, she steals the scenes that she participates. The support cast is stunning and it is impossible and unfair to highlight only a name, since the individual and collective performances are outstanding. This made-for-TV movie is better and better than many feature films. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Crimes no Paraíso" ("Crimes in the Paradise")