Dreadfully Boring

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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.

A better than average TV-drama/thriller.Tom Selleck is marvelous in the role of Jesse Stone, a former Los Angeles cop who, due to drinking problems, has relocated to a small town called Paradise. He has his hands full as two out-of-towners are killing residents simply for the fun of it. It's only a matter of time between things become personal, both for Stone and the killers.The character of Jesse Stone makes or breaks a film like this. Fortunately he's a very interesting character and well played by Selleck. Very serious, brooding and a borderline alcoholic but with a good heart, Selleck's Jesse Stone will make you nearly forget you're watching the same guy who played Magnum P.I. As for the story, it's never boring, it's fast paced and somewhat suspenseful but it's somewhat shallow. It could have been longer, it's only just 80 minutes. I actually liked the subplot part of the story better, the one concerning the rape victim.Director Harmon effortlessly creates an ominous atmosphere, and the town of Paradise is very well realised. This seaside town is an important character here and will undoubtedly play a part in the sequels.All in all a good TV movie with Tom Selleck in top form. I think I'll check out the rest of the Jesse Stone films.

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.

Hi, I have to say first off that I am a great Robert B Parker fan. His Jesse Stone novels are amongst some of the best writing that Parker has committed to paper and although I found this film engaging it cannot compare to the book. The characters are well drawn, I like Selleck as Stone and many of the other main characters play their parts well. What this film lacks is the intensity of Parker's writing. Although much of the dialogue is straight from the book the depth of the writing, particularly Jesse Stone's inner demons and the banter between Stone and his subordinates is sadly lacking. I would still prefer this to much of the run of the mill made for TV stuff available. I'm looking forward to others in the series.Tack