Jesse Stone: Thin Ice

This is clearly written as the first of two or three stories. It continues several of Robert Parker's characters very well, while seriously taking a couple along different paths. Most notably, Jesse's character has gotten more serious, and more challenged by life. There was always the sense in Selleck's portrayal of a wounded soul . . .much more so than in the books about Jesse Stone.

Overall, I liked this movie a great deal. I liked the expansion of William Devane's Dr. Hix character ("Dix" in the novels) and Suitcase Simpson's continuing confusion from his previous coma is still amusing, and occasionally disconcerting. But, although I liked the character of Rose, she is no replacement for Molly. Molly and Jesse's banter from the earlier movies is sorely missed. It added the levity needed as a counterweight to the heavier story lines.

I did like those story lines. The shooting of Healey at the beginning of the show starts the story with a bang, and Jesse's dogged determination to track down whoever is responsible is completely in character, even if it does hurt him professionally. The other story line, about the mother looking for her lost child, seemed at the beginning to be entirely predictable, but then it was not. Camryn Manheim, as the mother, is amazingly good here.

And may I just say that I love the music in these last couple movies. The music has gotten much stronger. Piano-based with a feel of Ravel or Satie, the soundtrack composer was listed during the credits, but I didn't catch the name. I might consider buying this soundtrack.

I liked the ending, but it is clearly leading to the next movie. I can only hope that "Jesse Stone: No Remorse" finishes up a couple of these story lines. I'd like to hear what's happening with Molly. And although I think they tied up the story of the lost child fairly well, the plot with Geno Fish, and the shooter of Detective Healey, seems to have much more to play out in the next movie. And of course, we need to find out what happens next with the police chief of Paradise.

A fair mystery and secondary plot, but this one doesn't measure up to the previous episodes in the series. Changing Molly to Rose is inexplicable, the town council is larger than the police force and Sidney Greenstreet(!) are just a few of the irritants. Tom Selleck is terrific as usual, Cathy Baker does a fine job as Rose and William Devane is sarcastic and entertaining but the plot with the town council just doesn't seem believable or logical.With the force down to three people with one on light duty, it seems counterproductive to threaten Chief Stone over such petty matters. Oh well, what can you expect from politicians? We hope there are more movies coming. My wife and I really like the Jesse Stone movies, but this one is not as good as the rest, not really bad, just not on par with the rest.

I love the feel of these (made for TV) movies. And as another person commented, I also like the music and how it adds to the atmosphere. This one had good attention to detail, I thought. At least, based on a couple of things I noticed. At the firing range Suitcase had a Bic four color pen in his breast pocket; when he was taking notes on his observation of the bad guy outside the bar, he used the same (sort of?) pen to write them. There were a few other little details like that - clearly, the people who put this together took good care with the film. And I continue to be impressed with how Tom Selleck portrays Jesse Stone. Tom might be older than Jesse, but he does a fantastic job. I'm sure that Robert B. Parker would have been happy.

To a series which for a "cop series" is decidedly different in many ways. Just watched this one for the 2nd time. For me, I would not want to work for employers that Jesse Stone has to work for and in a town that turns its back on corruption but dishonestly obtains money thru its radar (blocked by a tree-so you cant see the speeding sign!). Some lovely scenery in most of the others in the series, in this one you see very little. That said, every member of the cast contributes to this one when the team deal unofficially with a missing child and a shot police chief that no one seems to care about. Watch this one: how the writers pull the two story lines together is rather good, as is the ending. This makes for a really good story worthy of watching

All the Jesse Stone movies are very well written and acted. Only one inconsistency I found in the screen play for this one. When Rose Gamon (Kathy Baker) visits and questions the neighbor of the suspected child kidnapper, they talk in detail about the suspected woman. While the long-time neighbor seems to know all about the woman and the so-called birth of her child, she fails to mention that the child was killed in an unfortunate, accident. When Jesse and Rose finally confront the kidnapper, she shows them a newspaper article she has kept about the accident and the child's death. Obviously, this would have known to the neighbor, but she never mentions it to Rose. Am I wrong? Did I miss something? Only flaw in an otherwise excellent movie with a steller cast.