Gone Baby Gone (Movie Review)

                 Gone Baby Gone (Movie Review)

2007 Crime-Drama-Thriller directed by Ben Affleck, based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, and starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris.

Review: A stark, mature, immensely disturbing, but riveting, and thought-provoking, wonderfully executed movie.

  Two Boston area detectives investigate a little girl's kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally.

  I saw Gone Baby Gone yesterday, after wanting to see it for a long time, and since I'd watched several of Lehane's adapted movies, the cinematic masterpiece Shutter Island, the phenomenally acted and written Mystic River, and the under-rated The Drop, and I'd also read Shutter Island, so I was understandably pretty thrilled to finally get the chance to watch this, even though I knew that Lehane's world and stories were often dark, and disturbing.

  I was blown away. Ben Affleck showed his talent at direction from the first minute, and a thing that was incredible to me was that this movie was actually filmed in Boston itself, as also Lehane's novels are pretty much all set in Boston, and the Afflecks also grew up there, I think.

  Anyway, we understand right away that this story is not gonna pull any punches, in the vein of one of my other all-time favourites, Prisoners. Every parents nightmare, something no one wants to even think about, no one really wants to acknowledge, something that is always there in the back of the mind. Your child gone missing.

  The story rushes along, with terrifying social commentary thrown in every now an then, superb characters, their arcs and back-stories, their motivations and beliefs carry it forward, with a masterful screenplay, and atmosphere, albeit gritty and dark, somehow still compelling with a hint of hope. Lehane's stories, especially this one, choose to show a world, which sadly is very real, and yet we choose to ignore, at our own peril. The moral complications still aren't answered, and I'm still debating, with myself and my family, about who was right, and wrong, and if they were maybe right in the end after all, it's all just so realistically and poetically unclear.

  I actually appreciate Casey Affleck's Assassination of Jesse James performance even more after this, although his role here is the superior in my opinion, with his slightly naive, born-again Christian, intelligent and sympathetic Kenzie. Every movement and and word from him is right on point, letting us see wat he feels without saying anything. And all the other actors, Freeman, Harris, etc, do a fantastic job in their side roles, with layered depths and motivations which get uncovered as the story progresses. One of my favourite moments of his was when someone insulted his partner/lover/whatever, and after, like, 5 minutes, he just says "You disrespect her again, I'll break all your bones" or something like that, and I just thought that was so cool, y'know, finally some respect and chivalry, I dunno.The romance was also expertly and maturely handled, without being sappy, or stupid, but really subtle, without much drama, and just felt real.

  The themes and moral questions were superb, where I found myself agreeing with several characters with all different views and philosophies, and disagreeing at the same time, with questions asked and only half-answered that fester in your mind, long after the credits roll, and I found myself imagining what I would have done in such and such situation, where the characters faced choices I could never imagine making, and when a movie, or book, or video game does that to you, you know it's amazing.

  In conclusion, Gone Baby Gone is a must-see for mature audiences who can stomach the depressing subject matter. 9/10.