Gone Baby Gone: (A-) IMDB : ROTTENTOMATOES
Ben Affleck made a better choice in his directorial debut than he has in a lot of the movies he’s been in lately.
Gone Baby Gone stars his brother, Casey Affleck, who has been quite a few movies that I’ve enjoyed, like Good Will Hunting, Last Kiss and Gerry. This seems to be the first one that he’s been the legitimate lead. He’s becoming one of the better actors out there and one of my personal favorites.
Gone Baby Gone is based off the Dennis Lehane book, who also wrote Mystic River, which ended up being an Oscar winning film. Baby Gone is almost exactly like Mystic River, with the same look and feel. It’s set in Boston suburbs, just like Good Will Hunting and definitely has that kind of feel to it, aided by the darkness that was Mystic River.
The story revolves around a kidnapped three or four year old girl that has the neighborhood shook. With the cops looking for her, led by police chief Morgan Freeman, the family asks for help from local private investigators, Affleck and his girlfriend, played by Michelle Monaghan.
As they delve deeper into the story and are helped by Ed Harris and his partner, who are detectives on the police force, they uncover clues and more mystery.
The pace of the film feels kind of slow, but it’s really not and there are some very intense action scenes that will make you jump. I rarely get caught off-guard in movies, but I jumped at least twice in this one.
The movie has the feel of a good Indie flick, meaning it doesn’t seem to care about a happy ending, it’s much more focused on the message and conflict it’s trying to portray. Some times the decisions we make seem like the right ones, yet have consequences. Not everything in life is wrapped up nice and tidy.
Definitely one of the better films of the year, but it’s a step below what Michael Clayton was. I read somewhere that Ben relied a bit too much on shots of the “neighborhood” because maybe he wasn’t sure what else to do, and in that regard, it has a slight feel at times of being too obvious. Like “here are your obligatory shots of people doing things in Boston.”
But the plot is great, there are twists and turns and surprises. It’s barely two hours, so it doesn’t feel too long.
Glad to hear Ben Affleck’s directorial debut is worth watching! Thanks for the review. I’ll be sure to add this one to my list. Gotta love Casey Affleck, Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris – a few of my favs!
[...] River and Gone Baby Gone, both turned into movies already. I’ve seen both of them and even wrote a review on Gone Baby Gone, but haven’t really read any of his books [...]