Gone Baby Gone

Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris Directed by: Ben Affleck Runtime: 114 min. Rated: R Release date: October 19, 2007 - More Info
READER RATINGS:
6.2 OVERALL	Smart . . . . . . . . 8.5 Sexy . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Funny . . . . . . . . 4

The Nerve Review

Let's address something right from the beginning: Gone Baby Gone arrives at the box-office starting line saddled with two tons of baggage. Yes, there's the overexposed actor (Ben Affleck) turned first-time director. Yes, said actor-turned-director cast his little brother (Casey Affleck) as the lead. Yes, this is the second film based on a novel by a writer (Dennis Lehane) that is set in the same location (Boston) with similar subject matter (kidnapping) and themes (justice, loyalty) as the first one (Mystic River). Yes, it also features two actors (Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris) in crucial roles who may be a little too familiar to convince as gritty characters straight out of real life. And yet Gone Baby Gone turns out to be a sure-footed, high-intensity drama, expertly written, expertly played and, yes, expertly directed.

As a low-level private detective hired to investigate a young local girl's kidnapping, Casey Affleck has a quiet yet assured presence that inspires trust and allows him to go places as both actor and character that his older brother would simply not be capable of. It probably helps that he was never engaged to J.Lo. But the film's real strength lies in the script and direction. This movie is practically begging to dive headfirst into melodrama, yet scenes are cut short, actors are restrained, images are kept subtle and information is delivered in real time with no flashbacks or foreshadowing (until the very end), so that the reveals come as a genuine shock. Director of photography John Toll (The Thin Red Line, Braveheart) keeps the visual quality high throughout. And the film explores challenging ethical, emotional and even spiritual questions, elevating itself to one of the year's best. Yes, I was surprised how good this movie is. But I will not be shocked if Ben Affleck replaces Clint Eastwood as the actor-turned-director on the Oscar podium this year. — Bryan Whitefield

Other Reviews

Village Voice
Jim Ridley
"In his strikingly downbeat directorial debut, Affleck has created something of a blue-moon rarity: an American movie of genuine moral complexity."
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Variety
Lisa Nesselson
"Moral ambiguity is the real star of Ben Affleck's helming debut, Gone Baby Gone, an involving Boston-set tale of mixed motives, selflessness and perfidy in the wake of a four-year-old girl's disappearance."
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Hollywood Reporter
Kirk Honeycutt
"Mordant, melancholic but impressive debut for director Affleck."
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Your Reviews

I daresay Affleck, who eschews a happy ending for something darker and more ambiguous, has done a better job with adapting Dennis Lehane than Clint Eastwood, who gave MYSTIC RIVER the full Hollywood treatment and ruined everything that was decent about the novel in the process. As for how Martin Scorsese's recently-announced adaptation of Lehane's least-heralded novel SHUTTER ISLAND will turn out, it's anyone's guess. I just hope he doesn't make Leo do the accent again.