There's nothing in Paradise for Jesse, he's definitely lost.
Here I'm in the ninth and the final film of the Jesse Stone series made for television based on the characters created by Robert B. Parker. For now this is the last film, but the series is not over yet. There's no official announcement for the next film either, but I'm hoping for another one would make its way very soon. It came after a two years of gap when the series was in a bad position, so its fans thought the series is done and dusted. And then this new film hit the jackpot with a tag as the best in the series. But I've a different opinion...Now there's only two left in the PPD. There's no big cases to work with for Jesse, so that is why it's called 'Lost in Paradise'. He leaves behind Luther to handle all the troubles in the paradise which is actually minor ones. Meanwhile, he travels to Boston looking for some unsolved cases from his new boss. There he finds an open case, about a series of murders, where the killer was caught and confessed, but who declined one of the murder that's very similar to his trademark.
So like we know, Jesse starts to dig it deeper by gathering information from people related to the victim. This is a drag part, but it very much needed for the story to develop and particularly that gives the feel like the actual Jesse Stone film we're familiar with so far. Like most of the detective stories, this series never focused on just one crime event to solve, but multiple. So in this as well, the main crime solving theme had more space on the narration, but the minor one like a domestic violence, we can say child abuse was another side of the narration. That's where Mackenzie Foy comes in.
Jesse somehow manages to figure it out how the final victim died in his Boston ripper case. If you know Jesse Stone about how he deals with them, then you would know how it's going to end. But who's the suspect and reason for doing such thing revealed in the last quarter. The romance part of his life as well takes a twist. Since he got into Paradise nothing seemed serious, but here he's trying to move on as he's getting old. So it did not go as he planned, or expected. But that did not stop him to do his work or his rhythm of the life never disturbed.
"The murders have stopped. That seems to be enough for a lot of people."
There's no Reggie. I always concerned about him, he should have been in a family that has children, but Jesse did his best to take care of him. Now another version of Reggie is here called Steve. His story seems more sentimental, particularly in one scene, definitely anybody would feel that heart wrecking reaction the Steve had given. If you ever had a dog, sure you will do. There are some lines that were repeated throughout the series, some would find it as a signature, but some might get annoyed. I was annoyed by the ex- wife's series phone calls, since the story had no intention to reveal her completely. Otherwise, I would have had not problem with such developments.
The film was good, that does not mean this is the best one in the series as many people consider. For me, the first three were great, especially 'Death in Paradise' is my pick of the series. After those, then comes this one, but it was overwhelmingly received when it was aired on the television with a record breaking viewership. For that reason alone another film should come. I'm not a Jesse Stone fan as I thought in the beginning of the series, but still I want this to get going. Because good or bad, kind of addictive.
Not the writing that I'm very impressed with, but Tom Selleck was why I'm hooked to it. The series saw ups and downs, but his phenomenal performances saved the many occasions throughout the series. The series also saw lots of changes in the supporting roles, but a very few managed to remain till now and those were like Luther, Dr. Dix, et cetera. The theme music, I still hear in my mind wherever I see a poster of the films or a picture of Selleck. Like many say, he is born to play that role and I believe as what he said that he's not finished with the Jesse Stone character,
Whatever, I'm happy this got all uplift needed for this franchise. The screenplay as well to give a little credit for that, because of the holding a suspense for a decent time. That means, at some point you would able guess the twist, but how it ends like in scenes was unpredictable. I think, I enjoyed so far of the series, so bring it on a new sequel. And finally, the final scene was very emotional. A big move from the Jesse, but it was the right thing to do, as well as the film to end on a high.
8/10
score 8/10
Reno-Rangan 14 October 2016
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3561694/35852
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