Jesse Stone - Night Passage

 

The Stone Collector

Jesse Stone - Night Passage
USA 2006 Directed by Robert Harmon 
Sony Pictures TV Blu Ray Zone 1

So, although it’s the second of the nine (to date) Jesse Stone TV movies made, Night Passage is actually a prequel to the previous story (which had apparently been based on the fourth of Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone novels). Which throws up an anomaly of sorts because, although Polly Shannon is back as his girlfriend who got killed in Stone Cold (reviewed here), she starts up with him here but also temporarily finishes with him. But I don’t believe this actress is back for any of the other installments so, I’m guessing either the second and third books were not adapted later or, maybe the actress was just not available and she was either replaced or written out, is my guess. But at the moment, I don’t know how these two got back on track so... maybe I’ll never find out (well... I guess maybe I could read the books at some point but, since the writer’s various series’ are all a part of a shared world, I’d feel obligated to read everything he’s written and I already have too many books on hold). 

Anyway, Tom Selleck once again stars as Jesse Stone but, as I said, it’s a prequel so, we start with him and his dog making the long drive to Paradise, Massachusetts, fleeing his ex-wife and former police job, to go on an interview for a job as the police chief there. Which he gets but, his suspicions are instantly aroused because, he was a little drunk for the interview and he doesn’t understand why they hired him. It soon becomes clear, after the murder of the previous post owner, that Hasty Hathaway, the guy who practically runs the town and who hired him (played by Saul Rubinek) is involved with some dirty dealings and, quite possibly, just wanted a man who would look the other way and hide from life as the police chief. But this is not who Jesse is and he brings his own brand of hard work and justice to the town... naturally.

The tone is quite grim in places (there’s a heartbreaking scene with Jesse's dog, who has liver disease) and, again, Selleck plays Stone as someone of mostly few words and he does a lot of his acting with his face and expressions. These TV films obviously embrace what I like to think of as ‘interior cinema’, where the various characters (and by extension the actors portraying them) are allowed to wander around in silence with their thoughts. 

And, once again, Selleck is surrounded by a team of actors who are all very good and his character bounces off of them quite well. I mean, I liked who I was supposed to like and I hated the main villain so, yeah, everyone is doing their job really well. Especially a character played by Viola Davis, who I only know for her roles in the former incarnation of the DC cinematic universe... she makes a good support for Selleck’s cop here. Again, I don’t think she’s in that many so... I’m expecting more death in this series of movies before long. 

There’s also some nice cinematography. The director really knows his way around on these and there are some nice shots, such as the lead villain (played by Stephen Baldwin) sitting in his car stalking Jesse, the coffee he’s drinking perfectly reflected in each of the lenses of his sunglasses. Little things like that really go a long way and make me feel like I’m in safe hands with this series (I think this director helmed at least seven of these nine movies). 

Now, there is no real mystery in this again and I guess that’s just Parker’s style of writing these things. I mean, this is a hard boiled cop story rather than a whodunnit, for sure. You know who all the villains are pretty much right from the first ten minutes and it’s more a case of waiting to see how Jess catches onto the facts rather than trying to identify who the lead suspects are. It’s probably better this way as it makes them less predictable, for sure. And, yeah, okay... I really enjoyed Night Passage. My dad was right, I do like these and I’m looking forward to taking a look at the next one in the series soon.