Gone Baby Gone | Casey Affleck, Morgan Freeman | Gone Baby Gone review by Brandon

Gone Baby Gone | Casey Affleck, Morgan Freeman | Powerful!

DVDs:

Gone Baby Gone

	Gone Baby Gone Casey Affleck, Morgan Freeman MIRAMAX, 2008 average customer review:based on 198 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Gone Baby Gone review by Brandon

Great, great movie about a missing young child. This movie has a lot of twist and turns. The story is great and makes the viewer think a lot.

Powerful!

This is one of the most powerful movies I've seen in a long time. Watch this movie and refer it to everyone you know. It is very interesting to talk to people about their reactions to this movie. The point of the movie is not about whether you're Irish, your neighborhood, etc. The reviewer who was insulted about the characters' ethnicity TOTALLY missed the point. This reaches much deeper. Check it out!

Has its flaws, and some big ones, too, but still achieves something near greatness

Ben Affleck's directorial debut, based on a novel by Dennis Lehane, who also wrote Mystic River was pretty good to me. Affleck's direction is more than adequate. I'm sure he's aping Clint Eastwood's film version of Mystic River much of the time, and there's one scene that's way too reminiscent of Se7en, but he shows a lot of skill. He's great at capturing his hometown of Boston and the people who live there.

The story revolves around the investigation of a missing girl. Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris are two of the major investigators for the police. The aunt of the missing girl hires Casey Affleck and his girlfriend, played by Michelle Monaghan, to do private investigation on the side, because they can maybe find some secrets that the girl's mother (Amy Ryan) might be hiding. It's a gripping mystery story, and it arrives at one quite satisfying twist. But then there's another twist. The second big twist is completely brainless, and then the previously excellent film starts to fall. This isn't unlike Mystic River, where, when we finally found out why Tim Robbins has been acting so strange all the time, I just had to slap my forehead. Gone Baby Gone is able to pull itself up a bit from its head-slapping plot revelation in its final moments, but I was still left feeling cheated. I also have to complain that Monaghan, as lovely as she is, adds very little. Would Affleck's character really put his girlfriend in such dangerous situations all the time? I'm sort of glad we're spared the whole cliché chatter where one of the two lovers fears for their significant other's safety, but bringing the beautiful woman into a powerful drug dealer's den sounds like a hostage situation waiting to happen.

Casey Affleck did deliver his second fine performance that year, though it isn't as good as his Robert Ford, which I think might some day be considered iconic. Credit to Affleck's direction that the film can still be considered good after some should-be fatal flaws so I say watch it and see it for yourself.

for more information click here

Strong Directing Debut From Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck continues his return to respectability with his directorial debut Gone Baby Gone. Exploring an area he knows quite well, South Boston, Mr. Affleck elicits strong performances from a first rate cast including his brother Casey in the lead role, Morgan Freeman, Michelle Monaghan, Ed Harris, Amy Ryan, Amy Madigan & Titus Welliver. The movie revolves around a missing child search that turns into a kidnapping plot involving police corruption. There is a dark edge to the film with a mix of salty and earthy South Boston characters that add even more gruffness. Although this film didn't receive the Academy Award recognition of another Dennis Lehane adaptation, Mystic River, I found Gone Baby Gone less pretentious and overacted and ultimately more enjoyable.

for more information click here