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79 of 80 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best So Far, December 16, 2007
The latest DVD dramatization of Robert B. Parker's Jesse Stone novels starring Tom Selleck has everything: Action, drama, mystery, humor, romance and pathos. For me, it is the best of the series thus far.
Sea Change challenges mystery and thriller lovers alike but will also delight those viewers who love wonderful, three-dimensional characterizations and first-class film making.
Frankly, each of these made-for-TV productions of the Jesse Stone books have had the look and feel of a movie.
Selleck is perfect as the brilliant Police Chief of a small town in New England, aptly named 'Paradise' in Massachusetts, who fled the big city which had brought him great professional success along with stress and a failed marriage.
He's wounded and lonely, and struggles with alchoholism. Much like Sherlock Holmes who sometimes took cocaine when he didn't have a case to challenge his sharp mental faculities, Stone has to have something 'important' to investigate or his addiction will consume him.
Abruptly desolate in the very quiet town, Stone decides to open a cold case and, in so doing, is able to set his glass down -- at least for a while. The case he selected is a 20-year-old bank robbery and murder.
The ensuing twists and turns of the investigation, and Stone's unorthodox but endearing style, is entertaining, intriguing and memorable.
Selleck is ably assisted by a very talented cast that includes the gifted Kathy Baker who plays Dispatcher/Officer Rose Gammon, the great Kohl Sudduth as Officer Luthor 'Suitcase' Simpson who awakes from a coma with 'special talents,' and Joe the Dog who plays Reggie.
Lets hope the remainder of the Jesse Stone novels get the same wonderful treatment and come to TV and DVD soon!
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39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sea Change Is Great TV, January 19, 2008
This is Tom Selleck's fourth outing as Robert Parker's Jesse Stone. In this made for TV movie, small-town sheriff Stone struggles to solve a rape case, opens a cold case and fights his alcoholism. Rarely does an actor play a character as well as Selleck plays Jesse Stone. The movie is excellent quality -- great cinematography and music, wonderful direction and performances. Get all the Stone telemovies: Sea Change, Jesse Stone - Night Passage, Jesse Stone - Death In Paradise, and my favorite of all (the first of these movies), Stone Cold. Seldom do we get network television of this quality today. Highly, highly recommended.
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Selleck Scores Again, in Latest 'Stone' Film!, March 7, 2008
"Jesse Stone: Sea Change", the fourth TV adaptation of Robert B. Parker's novels of the alcoholic police chief of a tiny coastal town, again offers a terrific little character study/mystery, benefiting enormously from Tom Selleck's grizzled charm and integrity in the lead.
Things are slow in Paradise, and with Stone's ex asking him to quit calling (as she is "seeing someone"), he finds himself sliding back to the bottle, alarming his friends and the City Council. Deciding to reopen an unsolved murder case from a dozen years earlier, to pass the time, his experience as an ex-L.A. cop soon offers clues that the case was mismanaged, and was far more than a simple bank hostage shooting. Then a father drags his pretty daughter in, claiming she had been raped by a contestant in the upcoming regatta, a charge that Stone is suspicious of, as the girl's behavior indicates a far different scenario. The two cases form the crux of a very interesting few days in Stone's life!
As always, the story is character-driven, with 'regulars' William Devane, Stephen McHattie, Kohl Sudduth, Vito Rezza, and Viola Davis joined by the always enjoyable Kathy Baker, assuming Davis' police job as she has a baby. With Saul Rubinek reprising his role as the money-laundering banker who hired Stone to be chief, the world-weary cop must also deal with a 'bad girl' (Sean Young, who STILL looks hot in a bikini), a 'good girl' with a secret (Rebecca Pidgeon), a crusty ex-bank guard (James Gammon), and an arrogant mobster (William Sadler), and his 'hitman' (James Rogers). And we mustn't forget Joe the Dog as Reggie, mute but reproving witness of Stone's nightly alcoholic 'fix'.
For audiences weaned on action-oriented 'Shoot-'em-Ups', the story may seem slow, but if you prefer your stories deeper than bullet counts, with well-etched characters, and Selleck's undeniable charm, the latest "Stone" film will be 100 minutes, well-spent!
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