I've never read the books but I do know that mystery lovers will adore Stone Cold. Tom Selleck creates a real marketable character in Chief Jesse Stone. I think a TV Series would have probably been a better vehicle for the characters and story in Stone Cold but we'll see I suppose for even as I write this a sequel to this film is airing on CBS. I waited a very long time to see this film, it was always out at my local video store and the back of it sounded great. I love the small town New England mystery type stories, something of a Stephen King flair to them and it was exactly that. Tom Selleck is terrific as the tough, rather unemotional, torrid past, quiet, strong willed Jesse Stone. He's the Chief of a small New England Town which suddenly has two big cases on it's hands and it's up to him to figure both out.
I like Selleck, always have, he has a movie star, tough guy quality to him and this character is well done and has loads of back story and plenty more to do with and I think Selleck plays it perfectly. There really is some stand out performances in this movie. Alexis Dziena who I've gotten to know through the new TV Series invasion is terrific as the victim of a horrible gang rape. Viola Davis as Selleck's second in command Molly, Ralph Small as the Father of the girl who is raped, everyone plays a role no matter how big or small and does it very well. My only disappointment with the roles in the film were that of the serial killers played by Jane Adams and Reg Rogers. Their roles seem campy and forced and almost humoristic which doesn't make sense for such a dark, moody film. The one thing about Stone Cold that stands out is that it feels like there should be so much more and I know they are now serializing it and I hope they do more of a back story and explore the characters more because certainly it feels more like a TV Series than a feature film.
It's a little slow moving but it definitely has it's moments of intensity and I think fans of the old detective series (Murder She Wrote, RockFord Files, Columbo) shows like that will really cling on to Stone Cold and if you really enjoy watching a good detective pick apart the mystery than you may enjoy Stone Cold. Certainly I think it has it's drawbacks and could have been done much, much better but for what it is, it was worth watching. 7/10
I like Selleck, always have, he has a movie star, tough guy quality to him and this character is well done and has loads of back story and plenty more to do with and I think Selleck plays it perfectly. There really is some stand out performances in this movie. Alexis Dziena who I've gotten to know through the new TV Series invasion is terrific as the victim of a horrible gang rape. Viola Davis as Selleck's second in command Molly, Ralph Small as the Father of the girl who is raped, everyone plays a role no matter how big or small and does it very well. My only disappointment with the roles in the film were that of the serial killers played by Jane Adams and Reg Rogers. Their roles seem campy and forced and almost humoristic which doesn't make sense for such a dark, moody film. The one thing about Stone Cold that stands out is that it feels like there should be so much more and I know they are now serializing it and I hope they do more of a back story and explore the characters more because certainly it feels more like a TV Series than a feature film.
It's a little slow moving but it definitely has it's moments of intensity and I think fans of the old detective series (Murder She Wrote, RockFord Files, Columbo) shows like that will really cling on to Stone Cold and if you really enjoy watching a good detective pick apart the mystery than you may enjoy Stone Cold. Certainly I think it has it's drawbacks and could have been done much, much better but for what it is, it was worth watching. 7/10