A soulless flick that sputters when it should soar

LIVE by Night, a Prohibition-era gangster movie, is populated by well-dressed criminals, assorted lowlifes, corrupt cops and a conflicted anti-hero who's both a murderer and nice guy. For long periods the narrative moves along briskly, as might be expected of a film filled with tough talk, gunfights and bullet-riddled bodies, but it sputters when it should soar - partly because the character in this character study isn't all that interesting.

The film, written and directed by Ben Affleck and starring himself, is based on a 2012 novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane, who writes terrific books about flawed characters in his hometown of Boston. One of these, Gone, Baby, Gone, was made into a well-regarded 2007 film directed by Affleck, but th…