PRODUCED by Ben Affleck. Screenplay by Ben Affleck (adapting a novel by Dennis Lehane). Directed by Ben Affleck. Central character played by… no prizes for guessing who! 

This longish (129 minutes) crime thriller with a 1920s setting could have told its story in less time. The story starts in Boston where Prohibition has led the Italian and Irish communities to set up their competing booze businesses. Leading the Irish mob is Albert (Robert Glenister). Boss of the Italian bunch is Pescatore (Remo Girone).

Joe (Ben Affleck), son of a Boston Police Department, Irish-born senior inspector (Brendan Gleeson), has come home from World War I with planning and military skills for hire.

He’s having it away big-time with Albert’s blonde doxy Emma (Sienna Miller). Not smart, Joe. Try Pescatore. Yes, the job of running the Florida branch is yours. But before you go, teach the Irish a lesson in a gang-war (making good use of that diabolical close quarter weapon the Thompson sub-machine-gun). Joe believes he’s rid the city of Albert but lost Emma as collateral damage.

In a small Florida town near Tampa, police chief Figgis (Chris Cooper) is on to a good thing in the rum trade. Joe can operate provided he obeys Figgis’ rules. Figgis’ winsome daughter Loretta (Elle Fanning) is about to take the train to Hollywood to become a film star.

And this has all happened within less than half the film’s running time!

Mixed into the plot are observations of a variety of societal and moral issues such as fundamentalist religion, the KKK, a tad of implied incest, the economic effect of FDR’s signing the executive order repealing Prohibition immediately on taking office. Joe marries Octoroon beauty Graciela (Zoe Saldana) and they have a son. There are plans to build a casino. More shooting. Emergence of characters previously believed deceased. Retribution of a sort.

It’s by no measure boring.

At Palace Electric, Capitol 6 and Hoyts