Gone Baby Gone (R)
Mike:
Mike: Tonight we are reviewing Gone Baby Gone
, Ben Affleck’s directorial debut about the investigation of a missing four year old.
Scott was unable to attend.
Mike: What did I think?
I think they have been saving a lot of the best movies for the end of the year. This movie is excellent. It helps that it has great source material from a novel by Dennis Lehane, who wrote Mystic River. This movie is not quite the caliber of Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River, but it is close.
Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan play private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The little girl’s family bring in the detectives, because they believe Patrick and Angie will be able to get cooperation when the police can’t. Dorchester is a tough neighborhood where “nobody seen nothin’”.
At first I thought, it’s pretty obvious how Casey Affleck got his part. Turns out he’s a pretty good choice. He pulls off the role of a fearless wisp of a guy with ease. His character does whatever it takes to get to the bottom of this mystery. Monaghan does an okay job, but seems to be there for her looks than her acting.
Affleck pulls together a nice roster of great actors: Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, and Amy Madigan. Morgan Freeman is joy to watch whether his part is large or small. Ed Harris is intense as detective Remy Bressant. Madigan stands out in a small but pivotal role.
The director even throws in some nice character actors that will make you scratch your head wondering where you’ve seen them before. Police detective Nick Poole, played by John Ashton will look very familiar as Sgt Taggert from the Beverly Hills Cop movies. Titus Welliver playing brother in law Lionel McCready, with his porno star mustache, may be familiar to fans of the underappreciated series Brooklyn South and more recently Deadwood. Helene McCready, the white trash mother of the missing child, is well played by TV veteran Amy Ryan. You would swear that Affleck picked her off the street in Boston to play this role.
The cinematography leans to the dark side, although it seemed ridiculously dark during our showing. In this case I blame the projector rather than the camera. The lack of light fits with the dark tone of the situation. A little girl has disappeared and no one knows if she is coming back alive.
Like a few other good movies set in Boston, like The Departed and Mystic River, this film is tense, violent and filled with graphic language. Many of the scenes look as if they were filmed with real people rather than actors.
There is more to this movie than a missing person’s case. The plot constantly has you wondering what is next. The final act presents a real ethical and moral dilemma argued from both sides that leaves you wondering” What would I do if I was in the same situation?” There is no easy answer.
I give this movie a 4 overall and a 4.5 for mystery/drama. Great acting and a great story combine to make one of the better films of the year and a debut to be proud of for Ben Affleck.
