Tom Selleck has made as big a career out of playing Jesse
Stone as he has Thomas Magnum or Frank Ryan. This makes his ninth outing as the
character with another one in the works. It’s a role that suits him and his
style of acting these days. Stone is a lost soul, a man who has given his life
to his work in helping others and in finding criminals while at the same time
sacrificing his life away from work. It’s cost him his family and driven him to
alcoholism at times. And still he is the best at what he does, using his brain
to sift through what others miss to find solutions.
As the film opens Stone is still mourning the loss of his
best friend and sidekick, he dog Reggie. Having solved the biggest crime in
Paradise he now has little to do as the top policeman in town. To help cope
with his loss and his battles with drinking and loneliness, Stone stops by the
office of Lt. Sydney Greenstreet (Leslie Hope), ex-lover and high ranking
detective in Boston, to ask for a job helping solve cold cases. Working for no
pay but the chance to help, his first case involves that of a serial killer.
Richard Steele (Luke Perry) was convicted of killing three
prostitutes and suspected of killing a fourth. But that fourth case remains
open and Steele claims he had no part in it. All clues point to his being
involved as items from his case not mentioned to the press are apparent with
that last victim. While talking about the case with Stone, Steele offers him
direction as to finding the real killer. Or is he just toying with Stone?
In addition to trying to solve this case Stone comes across
a young girl in Paradise who is troubled. Finding her skipping school and
smoking a joint in front of him he offers her some advice and a chance to go to
class. Their casual conversation causes him enough concern that he looks into
her case and finds she has an alcoholic single mother who is troubled as well.
Directing his moral compass he tries to set the youngster on the right path.
There is another smaller side story that is told here as well.
The last supposed victim of the serial killer had a dog that Stone tracks down
as it is about to be euthanized. It seems the dog hasn’t acted the same since
his owner’s death. Rather than let it be put down, Stone takes the dog home and
tries to find out what the dog needs. The dog’s loneliness mirrors that of
Stone and the two are a perfect match, each helping the other to come back to
the world.
As with all of the Jesse Stone movies this one moves along
slowly but at a deliberate pace. It allows the story to unfold and be told in
the actions and thoughts of those involved that are put on display through the
actors abilities to convey those stories out via situations and responses as
opposed to everything being dialogue. This doesn’t make it a silent movie but
much can be said about an actor’s ability to convey emotion with a look or a
movement as opposed to just saying “Gee I feel depressed”.
In a world where most murder mysteries involve car chases
and non-stop shootouts this movie lets the story unfold as it might in real
life. Any car chases or gunplay is short lived and the movie doesn’t depend on
them to move the story forward. Instead we are allowed to sift through the
clues the same way that Stone is with the hope of finding the guilty party. We
get to see that there is a deeply rooted moral and righteous man in the
character of Jesse Stone. And in the end we’re given a solid story and a movie
that entertains, intrigues and offers enough drama to keep us watching from
start to finish.
Click here to order.
No comments:
Post a Comment