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Bookmark this pageGone Baby Gone (2007)
Director: Ben Affleck
Movie review
From Time Out London
With their tribal loyalties and unkillable grudges, the cops, hoods, and hard-eyed women of South Boston have become the stuff of Shakespearean tragedy at the movies in recent years. The neighbourhood is a hotbed of broad-vowelled agonistes in Eastwood’s ‘Mystic River’, Scorsese’s ‘The Departed’ and now ‘Gone Baby Gone’, the flawed but impressive directorial debut by Boston native Ben Affleck.
Like ‘Mystic River’, Affleck’s film is adapted from a novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane, it’s steeped in local colour and texture, and it hinges on a lost child, an anguished parent, and a grievous backstory that sort of explains all. (Due to superficial resemblances to the Madeleine McCann kidnapping case, ‘Gone Baby Gone’ was withdrawn from the London Film Festival last year and pushed back from its original December release date.)
When little Amanda McCready goes missing, hopes are dim. She’s from a neighbourhood where residents aren’t disposed to talk to the cops, and her junkie mother, Helene (Amy Ryan), has incurred the wrath of a drug kingpin. Those are reasons enough for Amanda’s devoted aunt and uncle (Titus Welliver and Amy Madigan) to hire a young boyfriend-girlfriend team of private investigators, Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck, Ben’s brother) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan in an inert, thankless role), who then spend the requisite amount of time earning the trust of the cynical, squinty detective on the case (Ed Harris, naturally) and the heartbroken police captain (Morgan Freeman), who knows parental sorrow all too well.
The Oscar-nominated Ryan is fantastic, creating a character who’s at once fearsome and pathetic. Casey Affleck’s wry, soft-spoken poise is the movie’s backbone, and as Kenzie’s investigation twists and deepens, the character enters uncharted and hopelessly blurred moral territory, where sacred bloodlines seem to lose their resolution and doing the right thing starts to look all wrong (and vice versa). The rub, though, is that the film’s compelling ambiguities come to a head in a final, puzzle-solving final-reel development that is so mawkishly convoluted and screamingly absurd that it threatens to upend all the fine work that went before it.
Author: Jessica Winter
Time Out London Issue 1972, 4 – 10 June 2008
User reviews of this film
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- claire said...
- Posted on Jun 28 2009 00:00 I loved it, granted there were times (only moments) when I couldn't understand what some characters said, but the ending was thought-provoking, It actually made me question what I would do in this situation which I think few films actually manage.
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- denise reid said...
- Posted on Apr 04 2009 23:30 just watch the beginning and the end, the rest is uninteresting tubbish. disapointing
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- Sicily said...
- Posted on Nov 02 2008 12:46 I was so disappointed at the end. This movie had such great potential, spoiled by an utterly ridiculous 'twist,' and a moral dilemma silly enough to literally make me laugh out loud. The movie's main issue is that it assumes neglected children are helplessly caught in their parents clutches. Uh - SOCIAL SERVICES, people.
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- yduric said...
- Posted on Oct 26 2008 09:35 Second viewing, second comment: I'm totally disowning the my first comment. I had actually completely forgotten that this piece of shit is overwhelmed by filthy homophobic dialog with the word 'faggot' occuring in about one out of two sentences uttered: this pretentious crap is supposed to deal with the abduction of a little girl, and not with the fact of knowing who is a 'faggot' in this movie. Im am definitely fed up with that 'fagotry' with which those bloody americans seem so obsessed. This obnoxious behaviour in their recent 'movie-making' makes me lose all interest in about one half of all their 'films'. So next time, couldn't they just give us a fucking break and deal with the supposed subject matter of the movie seriously for once instead of going off-focus in such an obnoxious manner? So I have a suggestion for Mr Afflleck: instead of naming his movie 'Gone Baby Gone' he should rename it 'Gone Faggie Gone'!!!
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- Bill said...
- Posted on Oct 13 2008 07:56 This is an incredible film, fresh and real. Characters are rich and alive, the story is compelling, surprising, not at all predictable. I didn't want it to end. Hard for me to understand the low ratings here... with all the crap Hollywood turns out this movie is a clear stand-out. Critics love this movie and it's obvious why. A near-masterpiece.
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- John Cooper said...
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Posted on Sep 05 2008 00:23
As usual, the Time Out Review is misleading , and potential
viewers of the film should ignore the comments about
the ending, which is one of most powerful I have seen
in modern cinema. Giving this film only three stars is unfair, but this is often the case with Time Out reviewers
who don't like the American film industry achieving
aesthetic excellence and try to pretend that it is happening. What the film achieves is the delineation
of a complex moral dilemma which raises challenging
questions as to what constitutes a caring society, and
how that society is to be policed. A brave, cutting-edge
film which is a must-see. - Report as inappropriate
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- andy said...
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Posted on Aug 01 2008 00:09
Almost gave up on the film halfway through to be honest. The 'hood' characters were far too obvious, actors often mumbled (had put the subtitles on!), and plot was confusing.
The twists in the film gave it a bit of edge and the dilemma Affleck was in at the end but a pretty weak film that potentially could have been interesting (had the story not been so far fetched). - Report as inappropriate
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- carrie curtis-phillips said...
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Posted on Aug 01 2008 00:00
An underdeveloped far fetched story. Disappointingly bland in it's cinematography and dialogue.
Could have and should have been a far more detailed and moving film.
Somewhat saved by Cassey Affleck's performance but a pretty unmemorable 'Hollywood movie' on the whole. - Report as inappropriate
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- yduric said...
- Posted on Jun 30 2008 22:43 A really excellent film: great direction (Ben Affleck seems to be better at directing than at acting), great acting (brother Casey shows here that he has talent, which was definitely uncertain in the anterior 'Gerry'), emotionally charged, but at the same time intellligent film. By the way, it is strange that there was here on this website an entirely different review of the film a few months ago, that has been replaced by the present one: this clearly shows that even at Time Out, everything is , to a certain degree, a matter of personal taste.
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- critique said...
- Posted on Jun 20 2008 10:57 I enjoyed the power and tension of certain individual scenes more than the film as a whole. Found the guy who played the Uncle totally unconvincing and would have preferred lesser known or unknown actors in the Freeman & Harris roles. While I can appreciate that some find C Affleck irritating, I personally love his understated yet rather intense way of playing a part.
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- bloy said...
- Posted on Jun 14 2008 10:26 oops forgot the rating
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- Bloy said...
- Posted on Jun 14 2008 10:25 SUperb film. Spent and hour or so debating the moral dilemma with my girfriend after the film. One of very few recent films that I have seen that was genuinely thought-provoking. Loved it
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- usman said...
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Posted on Jun 13 2008 17:14
you need a big heart and an open mind with something in your head to appreciate this great movie
i agree with T,BOYSIE AND MATT,UNMISSABLE STUFF - Report as inappropriate
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- T said...
- Posted on Jun 13 2008 11:58 Awesome mvie, there was lots of twists and strong sceens in this film. Alot to tense moments and the actors brought that out really well. Definatley a must see movie
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- Boysie said...
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Posted on Jun 13 2008 08:41
If you haven’t got a heart you won’t enjoy this film.
Perhaps, Rambo films would be better for you. No continuity slip ups there, and you will love Sly’s diction. - Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Ben Affleck
Cast: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, Amy Madigan, Titus Welliver, Amy Ryan full cast
Rated: 15
Duration: 114 mins
UK Release: Jun 6 2008
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