Gone Baby Gone
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Movie Reviews of Gone Baby Gone
Movie Review: Ben Affleck SHOULD quit his day job...and direct!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a confident and assured directing-debut for Ben Affleck. He has proven to be a good screenwriter (he co-wrote this one, as well as the Oscar-winning script to GOOD WILL HUNTING), but has been prett spotty as an actor. Sometimes his choices were poor and sometimes his performances too. He is obviously very intelligent and capable...but that doesn't always come through in his performances.
With GONE BABY GONE, filmed in Affleck's beloved and familiar Boston...he has established himself as an outstanding director. There aren't any fancy tricks or special-effects here. Just an understanding of how to set mood and how to give good actors space to operate.
The movie (based on the novel by Dennis Lenhane, who also wrote MYSTIC RIVER) tells the story of two low-rent private eyes (Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan) who are hired by grieving relatives to help the police in their search for a 4 year old missing girl. The belief is that people who won't talk to the police will talk to them. This proves to be an astute assumption, as the two investigators (who are also a loving couple) quickly make headway.
Regulations apparently compel the police to cooperate, so two veteran detectives (Ed Harris and John Ralston) assist the couple in their work...and vice versa. I liked the fact that there was tension between the two groups (which we certainly come to expect when we see similar scenarios in movies) but it fairly rapidly is lightened when it becomes clear that the two private eyes are actually making progress and the two cops are actually willing to act on this information and to take some risks themselves.
I'm going to leave the plot there...suffice it to say that no one is quite who they appear to be. It is an intersting and surprise-packed story on the surface...and that's almost good enough...just watching the case unfold and the twists get revealed. But what earns this film an extra star is the moral and ethical tale just beneath the surface. These characters grapple with moral choices, and the movie shows over and over that our consciences and religious beliefs may be tightly held and admirably adhered to...but they can nonetheless get us into serious trouble. As viewers, we understand fairly clearly what we think everyone OUGHT to do...but we also feel the pain of internal conflict when they don't. Because we understand their internal battles. And we also feel for them when they live with the consequences of their prideful stubborness. Doing the right thing isn't cut and dried in this film at all.
Pretty much everyone in the film does great work. Special mention should go to Casey Affleck, an actor that I've pretty much paid no attention to. Well, he's having a great year (with this film and THE ASSASINATION OF JESSE JAMES...) and he's an interesting performer. Unconventional looking and seemingly a little slow and sleepy-eyed...his character bursts forth with shocking actions and bravery. He uses bluster to get out of sticky situations...but you can also easily tell that he's probably quivering in his boots at the same time.
The film isn't perfect. Michelle Monaghan's character is both underwritten and underplayed. I think this movie stretched her skills just past her breaking point. She isn't awful...but I was distracted by her lack of convincing reactions in many scenes. And a couple of brief flashback scenes go by SO quickly, and they're so important, that I think I may have missed a couple of minor points of plot developments.
Quibbles aside...this is a stirring, adult, thought-provoking, well-acted, well-written and SURPRISE, well-directed thriller. I HIGHLY recommend it.
Movie Review: A little over the top, but still very good.
Summary: 5 Stars
When a young girl is taken from her home in broad daylight, a young private detective is her only defense against the child-kidnapping statistics. To get her alive, she must be found almost immediately and the clock has already been ticking. The detective, an unlikely toughguy, is getting little help from the police and no help at all from the girl's mother. He will have to face many physical and moral conflicts if he hopes to find her.
This movie was very good, but I liked it for the story and not the acting. Casey Affleck was very unbelievable as the hard-nosed private detective who pushed the limits to get the answers he wanted. Michelle Monaghan was in the movie just so there was a pretty girl on screen occasionally. The back of the DVD acclaims Morgan Freeman's performance, but it only does so to mention he's in the movie so you'll have another reason to want to see it. His part is minor and he is good as always, but it is too small of a part to base your decision on. But there was some good acting among all this.
Amy Ryan was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role as the missing child's uncooperative mother. She was great, and her performance is worth seeing if you like to catch up on the Oscar nods.
Maybe my fanboy bias will come through a little here, but I can't help it; I am a big Ed Harris fan. He shares a lot of scenes with Casey, which helped neutralize how ridiculous the young Affleck was at times. He does good work, but Amy Ryan is still your star.
The story is almost classic pulp in the way it had some over-the-top dialogue and a quickened pace. It moves along very fluidly and I never had that "check my watch and see how much is left" itch.
Another thing I should mention - and I wish I had links to support this - is Ben Affleck's directorial debut. I have heard/read many reviews of this movie that say that Ben has shown on which side of the camera he belongs (my apologies for not being able to give credit to the originator of that comment). I'm afraid that is more of a jab at his much maligned career on-screen rather than praise for his successful first-attempt at directing, however. But for whatever little it's worth, I thought he added to the feel of the movie, especially with the shots of the Boston neighborhoods that reminded me of what Spike Lee did for New York in Clockers (and pretty much every other movie he's made).
Gone Baby Gone was a great story and one that leaves watchers tangled up in the same moral dilemmas the characters faced. I enjoyed the puzzles the plot created and how they were put together. Some performances weren't the best, but Amy Ryan was very deserving of the Oscar nomination she received for this part and maybe you should see it just to judge for yourself if she should have won, if nothing else.
Movie Review: strong and gritty--with quite an ending
Summary: 5 Stars
Gone Baby Gone is an outstanding movie with great actors and a plot that moves along so well and so fast that you are riveted to the edge of your seat the entire length of the film. The actors do a great job with the script and this is a strong showing for director Ben Affleck as his first film that made it to the big screen. The cinematography and the special effects enhance this movie all the more.
When the action starts, we are in Dorchester, Massachusetts outside Boston. Dorchester is a tough neighborhood filled with drug problems and other types of dangerous crime; nevertheless people live there all their lives and develop relationships that truly matter. When four year old Amanda McCready (Madeline O'Brien) goes missing, the police come in fast but they don't have strong leads. The girl's Aunt Bea (Amy Madigan) and her husband Lionel McCready (Titus Welliver) enlist the help of two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) to help solve the case. Bea and Lionel believe that Amanda's mother Helene (Amy Ryan) is not able to do enough to help find her daughter because of her emotional problems, not the least of which is that Helene scarcely cares what happens to her daughter. Patrick and Angie get some information from people in the neighborhood although even knowing these people for decades still makes getting any information difficult. Patrick and Angie also come up against Captain Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman) from the police squad who is not exactly happy to have them around because they're not experienced cops.
The story takes many twists and turns which adds to the suspense; and the ending isn't necessarily clear until we see it in the very final moments of this picture. Along the way you can expect a strong performance from Morgan Freeman; and Amy Ryan steals the show as Amanda's mother Helene McCready, an almost hopeless drug addict who also gets involved in dealing drugs herself. Helene has even taken her child Amanda to a drug deal or two because, as she claims, she just doesn't "have daycare."
I must agree with the reviewers who note that this movie is very much for adults and mature audiences. There is a good deal of profanity and violence. Moreover, guns are whipped around faster than the bullets speeding out of them. Other issues raised include police corruption, child molestation and murder. It's not a Disney movie! However, don't be fooled--this is one strong movie worth owning in your collection.
The DVD comes with extras; the deleted scenes are really the best of them.
Overall, Gone Baby Gone presents us with a complicated thriller type of mystery that highlights the tragedy of child abduction and how it can affect so many people. The ending is good subject matter for debate; therefore for at least this one reason alone you won't forget this movie anytime soon.
Movie Review: "It's meant to hurt. It's meant to shake everybody up."
Summary: 5 Stars
That quote, from novelist Dennis Lehane and taken from one of the "making-of" featurettes available on the DVD, pretty much sums up the whole point of "Gone Baby Gone." I'll sum up the plot briefly: a child is kidnapped from the home of her crack-dealing single mother, and two private investigators are hired to find her. What begins as a complicated case turns tragic, heartbreaking, and a moral issue for the ages.
First of all: Ben Affleck can direct. Sure, sure, he obviously takes his cues from the greats before him...but who doesn't? Affleck takes a great script (which he co-wrote, based upon a great novel) and makes a great movie. Boston becomes a central character; Affleck captures this by casting many true-life Boston citizens (as one "actor" states: "There's no actors in there") in many of the roles, giving the movie the lived-in feel that it requires. Let's face it: despite the caliber of acting, despite the amazing script, if the movie didn't have Boston, the movie wouldn't have anything.
Let's go back to the acting, because that's what drew me in. Casey Affleck, Ben's little bro, is rapidly becoming one of my favorite actors (see him also in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford;" that movie, combined with this, will quickly erase any doubts about this man's talent). As his girlfriend/partner, Michelle Monaghan oozes charm and charisma as always. Amy Ryan, as the girl's mother, is a wonder to behold; she highly deserves her Best Supporting Actress nod (and if she wins, you won't hear any complaints from me). It's unfortunate that Ed Harris, who delivers one of his best performances, isn't nominated; as a hard-hitting detective who isn't afraid to bend the rules, he steals every scene he's in. Then there's Morgan Freeman; in the first half of the movie, his talent isn't readily evident (it's a bit hard to get past his traditional wise-man persona). When he shows up later in the film, though, the viewer is quickly reminded why Freeman is one of the best actors to ever grace the screen.
Ultimately, as intimated in the title line of this review, "Gone Baby Gone" is a thinking-man's crime drama. It isn't meant to leave you feeling nice and comfortable; it's meant to leave you shaken, edgy, as if something wasn't right. What is "the right thing?" How do we know it when we see it? How do we know it when we do it? These are the questions you'll leave this movie with. If you're not comfortable questioning your own humanity, then I reccommend going to see some other flick; I hear Paris Hilton has a new one coming out. But if you don't mind feeling uncomfortable, if you don't mind watching a crime drama that is actually thought-provoking, then by all means watch this one. You'll get your money's worth and a whole lot more.
Movie Review: One of the Year's Best Films: Oscar Ignored!
Summary: 5 Stars
Ben Affleck has written (with Aaron Stockard) a superb screenplay adaptation of Dennis Lahane's novel GONE BABY GONE and has proceeded to direct this tough tale with an ensemble cast of both well-known actors and unknown actors and walk-ons from the streets of the Boston area where they grisly story takes place. The result is a film so well tuned and realistic with a perfect sense of pacing and character development that it becomes a remarkable calling card for Ben Affleck's career as a director. That it is going unnoticed (with the exception of Amy Ryan's nomination for Best Supporting Actress) by the Oscars is a grave oversight !
The time is contemporary Dorchester, Massachusetts and Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and his girlfriend/partner Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan), become aware of a missing child Amanda (Madeline O'Brien) in their own neighborhood. The child's aunt Bea (Amy Madigan) and uncle Lionel (Titus Welliver), unable to cope with Amanda's drugged out mother Helene (Amy Ryan), knock on Patrick and Angie's door, pleading with them to help find Amanda: Patrick and Angie are private detectives who just happen to be an integral part of the neighborhood. Reluctant at first to become involved in the now 3-day police hunt for the child, a hunt headed by the respected Captain Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman) who his lost his own daughter in similar circumstances and detectives Remy Bressant (Ed Harris) and Nick Poole (John Ashton) and who as a triad feel they are competent to handle the case without the 'immature experience' of the young couple. But Patrick and Angie do become involved, uncover leads within the neighborhood that lead to the clues behind the missing child incident and in doing so, unravel a lot of corruption within the police force, and also discover differences between themselves that threaten their otherwise close relationship. To say more would remove the incredible tension this story maintains all the way to the fadeout credits.
The cast is uniformly excellent, from the smallest roles to the most major ones. It is difficult to single out any performer for praise as this is truly an ensemble piece. The flavor of the film is honest, unflinching, and refuses to ignore the grotesque incidents that must be shown for the movie to maintain its impact. Writer Dennis Lahane ('Mystic River', 'Shutter Island') is a master of detailing the spectrum of responses that ugly matters induce: even the most noble of intentions have their shadowy side. Affleck finds all of this in this excellent film, a film so strong that it easily bears repeated viewings. Highly recommended...but not for the squeamish. Grady Harp, February 08