Jesse Stone: Night Passage

Starring: Tom Selleck, Stephanie March, & Stephen Baldwin

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

For those unfamiliar, Jesse Stone is the legendary, fictional, Police Chief in the small town of Paradise, Massachusetts, created by Robert B. Parker. The Jesse Stone franchise has spawned over a dozen novels and eight feature films. While being the first book in the series, strangely enough, Night Passage was the second movie shot, and the third one released. It seems odd, but Night Passage is more of an introduction to the character and the town. If this were a TV series, it would have been the pilot, but when you're trying to start a film franchise, you want to start it off with a film that hits harder and is more memorable, the way Stone Cold was. As for Night Passage, it introduces audiences to Jesse Stone, as he leaves L.A. a disgraced homicide detective, with an alcohol problem, coming on the heals of a divorce. Stone drives across the country in hopes of taking over the seemingly easy job of being a Chief in a small town, but he quickly learns that Paradise is not your ordinary small town. Tom Selleck stars and was the obvious choice to play Stone, because the man has been playing a cop for almost forty years! Unlike many of those other Policemen, Stone is more withdrawn and uses his experience to take care of business, so he can go home to his dog and his alcohol. Each story centers around a crime, but also has a secondary story, Night Passage is no different as Stone must deal with a homicide, and a domestic situation that has torn a family apart. Similar to the other films, they get big names to co-star and in Night Passage we get Academy Award Winner, Viola Davis, and Stephen Baldwin. These guess stars, along with deep characters, and complex stories are the difference between the Stone films and a TV series. While Jesse Stone would transfer into a tremendous TV series, you wouldn't get the same feel that you do from the films. The world of Jesse Stone is a cold, dark one. He must do his job while battle his own demons at the same time. With a perfect leading man, coming from some very well written novels, the Jesse Stone films have been a treat, and Night Passage is where it all started. I'd highly recommend getting into the series, but watch the films in order of the novels, not in the order the films were released.