Gone Baby Gone [Blu-ray]
Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 02/12/2008 Run time: 114 minutes Rating: RFor his initial offering as director, Ben Affleck returns to the site of his first Oscar: South Boston. (He and Matt Damon shared the award for Good Will Hunting.) Hot on the heels of his moving turn in Hollywoodland, Affleck’s Dennis Lehane adaptation marks one of the more seamless actor-to-filmmaker transitions in recent years. Ostensibly, a procedural about the search for a missing child, class and corruption emerge as his primary concerns. First off, there’s low-rent private eye Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck, equally adept in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford). Then there’s the girl’s drug mule mother, Helene (Amy Ryan, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead). She and Patrick grew up in Dorchester, but he took a different path, setting up an agency with his girlfriend, Angie (Michelle Monaghan). Helene’s aunt, Bea (Amy Madigan), hires the duo to augment the investigation, and they team up with Captain Doyle (Morgan Freeman) and Detective Bressant (Madigan’s husband, Ed Harris). The authorities don’t appreciate the interference, but Patrick knows how to get the local populace talking, and he soon finds there’s more to the story than anyone could possibly imagine. Hard-hitting, but never soft-headed, the evocative end result proves Affleck has a flair for this directing thing and that his little brother can carry a major motion picture with aplomb. Gone Baby Gone belongs on the list of great Boston crime dramas, along with The Departed and Mystic River, Clint Eastwood’s take on Lehane. –Kathleen C. Fennessy
User Ratings and Reviews
3 Stars Its heart was in the right place, but…
…overall this one missed the mark.
What I really liked about it was the richness of the neighborhood in which it was filmed. The characters, the locations, the dialog/dialects. All very, very realistic.
What I couldn’t get on board with was the story, which started out fine enough, but then devolved into this pseudo-noir with bad plot development and a silly, righteous ending that ticked me off. Case Affleck was a tough swallow for a tough guy. And I feel he was held back in his his acting by his director brother - who, i feel, held on too tight to this one.
Overall, it felt forced and I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it.
2 Stars Casey Affleck is awful
Good movie but Casey Affleck was horrible.No expression & mumbles to the point of being incoherent.Ed Harris was excellent as always & Morgan excellent too.
5 Stars A for Affleck, B for Boston, C for Casey, D for ?
One of the most difficult tasks is adapting a book to the stage of film. However, this gritty urban (and urbane) drama deserves every star. It truly is an ensemle cast of excellent actors (and actresses). When you can forget Morgan Freeman is Morgan Freeman, or that Ed Harris is Ed Harris–there is something magical going on. From the dirty kitchen sinks of the “neighborhood” where the narrator grew up, to the quarry tagged in every available space, this rings true and is in a class with “To Kill A Mockingbird”–in color. Every few minutes there is a plot twist, and you don’t really know who is good or evil–and in the end, you still will be left wondering. A great film leaves you with more questions that answers, and I would put this film in that category–especially when they are moral issues.
No plot recap is needed here–judge for yourself. You will not be wasting your time.
4 Stars Worth a look
I think that the movie while strong with good performances by all especially Ed Harris is best when #1 the plot is dealing with the actual mystery of the abduction itself and not as in the last 25 minutes when everyone has to deal with the implications of why one action is moral and another action is immoral and who is better off with whom and #2 when we actually see the tough neighborhood in which these people live even if intellectually we know that such idealized neighborhoods populated by cliques although extremely likeable ones exist only in the imaginations of Hollywood executives. This is basically the same neighborhood brought to life in The Departed, Mystic River, Sleepers and a host of other films. I like all those films so I don’t have a problem with it but those of you watching this for the first time should know what you’re getting into.
Overall-While I liked the movie the plot twist when it comes seems completely arbitrary and the action from that point steams from what decision would Casey Affleck’s character the most comfortable.
5 Stars Casey Affleck Emerges From Ben’s Shadow
Casey Affleck more than holds his own in scenes with Morgan Freeman and the underrated Ed Harris in almost as surprising a way as Tom Cruise did with Dustin Hoffman in “Rain Man.” Just a super movie from start to finish with each actor in each scene bringing something to the table. Ed Harris has the meatiest role next to Casey as a is he a bad guy or good guy and that conundrum is revisited with many of the characters in this story. Ben Affleck does a superb job in his directorial debut, I can’t recommend this movie highly enough.
Filed under: Blue Ray Movie Reviews