Stone Cold (2005)

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Of the Jesse Stone films I've seen, I have to say I liked this one the best. Even though it had sad moments, Selleck was able to show his humorous side a bit, thanks to the script, and he even smiled once.Jesse is trying to find a killer - the body that's found is of a man, and his dog is sitting with the body. The killer is unable to kill a dog and admits it. Just people. Jesse takes the dog home. This is how we are introduced to Reggie. When another body is discovered with the same MO, Jesse realizes he's dealing with a serial killer. He figures out the identity of the killers with little problem, but tragedy awaits him when he becomes the killers' focus.In a subplot, a young girl (Alexis Dziena) is raped by three guys at her school. They have photos and use them to threaten her. Her mother doesn't want a scandal so after telling Jesse the girl's story, she declines to go further with an investigation. Jesse sends Molly (Viola Davis) to the high school to hang around and investigate.Good script with very satisfying resolutions. The exquisite Abby Taylor is on hand at Jesse's "pal" and Mimi Rogers, who goes way back with Selleck, shows up as the attorney of one of the high schoolers. Alexis Dziena, who played the girl who was raped, has matured into a knockout.I really enjoyed this one.

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.

If they made 100 Jesse Stone movies I would watch them over and over again. Ten times the entertainment factor of anything Hollywood has produced in the last 30 years with the exception of Monte Walsh and Quigley Down Under. Guess you could say I'm a die-hard Tom Selleck fan. Well worth the time spent - Stone's life style seems more real than the other used dish-water stuff coming out of Hollywood these days. Even though some of it is tongue-in-cheek police work, I would sure like to see some of this style of police work put into place by local police. Like the injunction against the character played by one of the Baldwin boys, Stone does not let that stand in the way of protecting the bruised and beaten wife of the character played by Baldwin. What he does is something that most people would like to see done these days, notwithstanding the positions of the ACLU and Amnesty International.

As the alcoholic top cop in a small Massachusetts town, Tom Selleck gives one of his best performances in years. Having left California and his marriage, Selleck seems to settle in this cold town but a rape and serial killer soon keeps him hopping.We never fully realize why the husband-wife killing team are doing what they're doing. Their characters are not fully developed and when they are not shooting, they are reciting some sort of nonsense or poetry. Even insane people have reasons for going on killing sprees.After 3 killings in the town, the couple kill Selleck's girlfriend because she is too young for them. They claim they want to annoy him. Something is wrong with this kind of dialogue.3 high school students rape a young girl but this has nothing to do with the serial killings. Maybe, had they tied the rape and the serial killings together, we would have had a better picture.The film ends where I can see a possibility of Selleck doing a weekly show on his character. He is subtle here and delivers a powerful performance in an otherwise flawed production.