Gabriel S
When 4-year-old Amanda goes missing from a low-to-mid class neighborhood of Boston, Amanda's aunt Beatrice hires private detectives Patrick and Angie, who see themselves on a web of lies and deceit. Gone Baby Gone explores the violent world of drug addiction, trafficking, and the toll these acts take on a family.
According to IMDb, Gone Baby Gone is the first full-featured length movie that Ben Affleck directed, and I have to say he's done an okay job overall. Not perfect, but a solid start for his first big project. Of course, he had a good starting point: the source material comes from a homonymous novel by Dennis Lehane, one of the screenwriters of this movie.
A disclaimer at this point: I haven't read the book. Yet.
Gone Baby Gone follows private detectives and couple Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro, detectives specialized on finding people mostly for billing firms. Their motivation for accepting Beatrice's request is a bit shady, but their ultimate drive is to find Amanda safe and sound.
Patrick is a great character overall, a mix of a weak exterior with a brave attitude. Everyone dismisses him for looking young and naïve, but he is one strong lead, he takes no BS from anyone, and he is willing to die for this case.
His development in the story is good enough, I'd say. He does not go under serious transformation, but his moral dilemma is strong enough to overcome his flat arc. I believe Patrick proves that you don't need characters that change from A to B on every story; you need someone that delivers a solid likeability leading to buy-in from the audience. We believe Patrick's motives, and his likeability is enough that we care for him ‘till his last act.
Angie, on the other hand, has a minor role in this story. She is Patrick's love interest, but she is aside in this story. When she shows strong motivations towards solving this case, I felt that the story failed showing a bit more of Angie's development. Not a big miss, but it's there.
The movie starts off with a monologue, which some die-hard movie-addicts might see as a cardinal sin. Being to the point: it is a sin mainly because it's just exposition. Patrick is the main character, but he is not really struggling with his emotions throughout the movie — at least through most of the movie. So, when we hear him talking to us, it feels like that, like he is just telling us information.
Monologue is clearly a director's choice, and I feel like most of these movie's flaws are Direction flaws. Considering Gone Baby Gone is Ben Affleck's debut as a Director, I think it's forgivable, but these flaws exist. For example, another flaw is that the editing is a bit off, for some reason. Gone Baby Gone is from the late 2000s, but I felt like I was in a 1997's movie, 10 years prior to this movie's release.
Now, take this not for granted, the story is good, with twists that keeps the momentum. I felt not cheated once, and the overall story progression is satisfactory, the plot intrinsically planned out to deliver the climax and outcome, both unexpected and full of moral conflict.
And, to wrap up a good story, an ending that pays off. Good arc overall.
On technical levels, Gone Baby Gone is simplistic, but that's good enough for what it is. The R rating is a good choice, considering the themes at hand.
Speaking of themes, you should see themes like the sense of duty, right and wrong, toll that drugs take on family, family overall, and also what justice really means. Strong themes, but no strong preachiness to what they mean, just hints for you to figure them all out on your own.
Gone Baby Gone is a good crime thriller with solid performance by the actors involved. The story is good and involving, and the ending adds closure to what we see. When the movie ended, I was debating with my wife the ending's implications — a good and fun discussion about what we've just watched. Hopefully, you will have room for that level of discussion too, meaning you've watched something that tickles your brain.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
04/07/24
Full Review
Derek
Amazing. Absolutely a must watch.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
04/07/24
Full Review
Eye C
A hidden jewel, a great thriller. Mr. Ben Affleck should direct so much more, I can't think in one movie directed by him that doesn't like. And Mr. Casey Affleck once more showing us the great actor that he is. This movie is amazing.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
03/30/24
Full Review
Brian K
The plot is pretty good but too disjointed and to be believable. Casey is good but a little to disengaged, and some of the other supporting cast are very good. Michelle Monaghan and Ed Harris are only so-so (as their body language is out of synch with their written complex characters), and Morgan Freeman is miscast.
Overall a 7/10. Over-rated. For example, Mystic River is comparatively a classic movie (9.5/10).
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
03/25/24
Full Review
Rodger G
A brilliantly written, directed and acted movie. Ben Affleck's directorial debut is superb. This is one of those movies where you don't just watch it, you feel it.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
03/10/24
Full Review
Jack V
Bad, unrealistic plot (twists). The directing is great apart from the abundance of flash-backs. The ending is great too, but the way we got there was not. The acting is decent.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/08/24
Full Review
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