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Year Released 2007
Duration 114
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Gone Baby Gone
Editorial ReviewMovie Summary
Movie Genre:
Drama
Rated:
MA
Director:
Ben Affleck
Starring:
Casey Affleck, Ed Harris, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman
Editorial Review
By the time he'd gotten through with Gigli, Ben Affleck had gone from Hollywood A-list to late-night talk show host punchline. No matter what he's tried since audiences haven't really accepted him on screen again. Until then, though, Affleck can be content knowing that he's a star again, albeit behind the camera.
With Gone Baby Gone Affleck the writer, director and producer has fashioned a complex crime drama with a rare and sophisticated moral centre. Like Mystic River, his film is based on a novel by Dennis Lehane; unlike Clint Eastwood's adaptation, Affleck keeps a tight rein on his leading man, brother Casey, and delivers a thrilling fiction that also wrenches the emotions.
With his flat tones and dull gaze, Casey Affleck isn't an actor who immediately grabs our affections. But here, Casey Affleck as Patrick Kenzie, Boston private investigator, is the man to investigate the disappearance of a little girl from a seedy family. Kenzie's familiarity with this milieu – a Bostonian underbelly - means he can sniff out bullshit better than anyone else.
This is two movies in one – missed opportunity in the first half, then deeply satisfying atonement and redemption in the second. Casey Affleck is capably supported by Michelle Monaghan and other minor characters including Ed Harris as the veteran cop who becomes his ally, and Titus Welliver as the uncle of the child. As the drug-addled mother of the kid, Amy Ryan's so good you'll wonder whether she didn't deserve the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
In a year of dark cinematic materials, this holds its head high as a thinking person's neo noir. What separates it from the rest is its courage to make a clear moral argument as to what's right and wrong.
Michael Adams
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5 comments
Andy: a pretty satisfying movie - due to the darkness of life in dorchester, mostly since it flat out rejects the usual popcorn ending. (15 May 2008)
estasam: i wasted 2 hours of my life on this overblown and incoherent film. The plot made no sense, Casey Affleck should get some lessons in diction as most of his dialogue was incomprehensible. The scenes were dark even when supposedly being filmed in daylight. Does no one care or know how to produce 'craft' films anymore.Don't be seduced by the 'moral dilemna' supposedly at the heart of this film as it is tacked on at the end with no buildup or real discussion in the course of the film.The moral high-ground taken by Casey's character is shallow and hypocritical in the light of his behaviour before and afterwards. (25 April 2008)
Megs: Wow, what a film.. Ben Affleck must surely now retire now from starring in mediocre action and rom-com movies and stick to what he's good at - which is clearly writing and directing. Casey Affleck and Ed Harris are stand outs in this fantastic film that is confronting without being too in-your-face violent and left me thinking about it long after the credits had rolled. A must-see.. (23 April 2008)
Janey: This movie was so good, it's got to be an Oscar contender. All the performances are authentic and engaging. It was intense and thought provoking, but still very easy to watch on a Friday night after work. (18 April 2008)
Harry Georgatos: It has taken so long for this film to open in Australian cinemas that I saw it on pirated dvd. Ben Affleck shows he has the experience of a seasoned director with this complex piece of storytelling. The moral complexities in the film have the audience thinking without passing moral judgement on characters and situations. This film for me was just as good as the authors other film "Mystic River". A classic. (10 April 2008)
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