Gone Baby Gone
Gone Baby Gone
R | 19 October 2007 (USA)
Gone Baby Gone Trailers

When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt, Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detectives freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasons—they're not cops and they know the tough neighborhood in which they all live.

Reviews
Steineded

How sad is this?

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Siflutter

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

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Calum Hutton

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

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Dana

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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jojo989

I have had this on my watch list for a while but I was disappointed with it when I finally watched. Amy Ryan does give a fantastic performance as the mother of little Amanda, but I just didn't find Casey Affleck convincing as a tough private detective. I also found the plot reaching for a higher significance with the final revelations that I found unbelievable and artificial. A shame because there are some really high calibre actors involved!

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Screen_Blitz

Ben Affleck has shed beautiful light on his talent as an actor on screen. But about his talent behind the camera? Making his directorial debut, Affleck crafts a dark and twisted tale about every parent's worst nightmare: the kidnapping of a child. Packed with unexpected twists and powerful emotional resonance to keep the heart pounding to its very last breath, Gone Baby Gone is an uncomfortably profound experience that dares to leave you convinced of the unsettling events that unfold on screen, the opening minutes of exposition, to the shocking twist of moral dilemmas and the blurred lines between right and wrong. By no means is this a comfortable picture to sit through. It is dark, grisly story where the moments are levity are as scarce as water in the desert. After all, the events are inspired by the novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane who also wrote 'Mystic River'. Set in Boston, the director's hometown, this film follows Patrick Kenzie (played by Casey Affleck, Ben's younger brother) and Angie Gennaro (played by Michelle Monaghan), two private detectives who are hired by Lionel (played by Titus Welliver) and Bea McCready (played by Amy Madigan) to go under investigation for their missing four-year-old niece Amanda, initially against the will of her drug-addicted mother (played by Amy Ryan). As the two dive deeper and deeper into the investigation, they are confronted with suspicious secrets involving local drug dealers, gang members, and the local law enforcement that leaves them questioning everything they about this case. Thanks to Ben Affleck, this is a mystery/thriller that avoids following the tracks of a straightforward narrative, but instead drives its stories through misdirection and moral ambiguity to leave you questioning every character involved with this case. Although the story takes a while to pick up with its slow exposition during the first half, it powerfully builds up the layers of the characters and sets up for the rigid complexity of the story. Much of this pays off during the final stretch when the lead character Patrick and Angie are forced to confront against the demons that threaten their moral pedestals. And Affleck captures the events with pure grit and emotional magnitude with just enough tension leave viewers shivering in their seats. Setting the action in the middle-class Boston is perhaps no surprise as Affleck knows the town very well, but he also uses this location to great advantage by capturing the dour environment of a place riddled with crime, drugs, and prostitution. Once the events finally reach a conclusion, there is still a sense of uncertainty underlined by moral ambiguity of the characters. At the end, viewers are likely to find themselves divided on whether the character made the right decision or not. It comes to show that no goods come without punishment. As for Casey Affleck, he puts on a great performance. Though nothing I would consider Oscar-worthy, it effectively shows he has the acting chops he rarely gets the demonstrate unlike his older brother. Michelle Monaghan makes good use of her talent as well. Again, nothing that shouts for Oscars. Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris, unsurprisingly put on blissful performances. Arguably the most profound display in the roster is Amy Ryan who makes a convincing impression of a mother with a low-life persona who nonetheless is anxious of finding her daughter, even though her volatile personality does little to show it. The movie never lets any of its inspiring stars go to waste. Gone Baby Gone is a profoundly riveting mystery/thriller with a patent of powerhouse performances, an uncompromising package of snappy twists and turns, and a surprisingly strong directorial efforts by Ben Affleck. It is not a pretty picture, it is a dark one bound to leave even the most desensitized viewers squirming in their seats. Bloody is also a word not worth leaving out. Above all, it proves Affleck has just as much charismatic talent behind the camera as does in front.

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daddysarm

The "mom" was not fit take care of anything but a raging trouser-snake. C Affleck is always tedious & in this he was a moron & a joke. That loser would have never had a decent girlfriend. Instead, he would have been chopped to bits by some gangbanger years before. I'll give Lehane a pass for the over-the-top plot. That is what authors of sensationalist fiction do. Most of the main cast was great. Direction OK.

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Red-125

Gone Baby Gone (2007) is a crime drama co-written and directed by Ben Affleck. It stars Casey Affleck as Patrick Kenzie, a private detective who works in Dorchester. Dorchester is a huge neighborhood in Boston. It contains upscale areas but also some really rough spots. The overall crime rate in Dorchester is 30% higher than the national average, so it's not a very peaceful place.The premise of the movie is that Kenzie grew up in Dorchester and knows everyone in his neighborhood. He's hired to find a kidnapped girl by the girl's aunt. The thought is that he can talk to people who wouldn't talk to the police. As it turns out, the aunt is right and Kenzie learns things by talking to people who will talk to him.The supporting cast is very strong. Michelle Monaghan portrays Angie Gennaro, Kenzie's lover and his detective partner. Morgan Freeman portrays Jack Doyle, the head of the kidnapping squad, and Ed Harris portrays Remy Bressant, one of the detectives assigned to the case. They all do well in their supporting roles.The problem for me is that I think Casey Affleck was the wrong actor for this role. Director Affleck knew that. There's a line where Kenzie tells the police something like, "I may look young, but I'm 31." In fact, Affleck really was 31 when the movie was produced. However, he looks more like an Explorer Scout working on his Law and Justice merit badge than he looks like a street-hardened private detective.Truth in reviewing--there were so many very bad guys, pretty bad guys, and somewhat bad guys in the movie that I lost track of which bad guy was on the screen at any given moment. Win some, lose some. However, I have to admit that the basic question raised by the film was interesting and not easy to answer. The question is whether the end justifies the means. Do you do what the law says is right, or do you do what may well be wrong, but could have a better outcome? Although I believe Affleck was the wrong actor for this role at that time, he portrays his doubts about the case very well. (I should say that I thought Affleck was superb in Manchester by the Sea. In 2016 he was the right actor in the right role.)This movie worked well enough on DVD. It has an excellent 7.7 IMDb rating. I may be overly critical, but it just didn't work for me.

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