Gone Baby Gone

Do you know people in the neighborhood who don't talk to the police?

Gone Baby Gone is directed by Ben Affleck and Affleck co-adapts the screenplay with Aaron Stockard from the novel of the same name written by Dennis Lehane. It stars Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, John Ashton and Amy Ryan. Music is by Harry Gregson Williams and cinematography by John Toll.

Private Investigators Patrick Kenzie (Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Monaghan) are hired to find missing child Amanda McCready (Madeline O'Brien). It appears to be a simple case of a kidnapping, but the deeper the investigators go the darker the truths become.

A potent drama, Gone Baby Gone offers up a mystery that is propelled by moral murkiness. Unsu...

Overall : A well-done mystery thriller with a melancholy tone that never lets up and ultimately leaves the viewer a little more sad than satisfied.

Ben Affleck's debut as a director was a decent start. Gone Baby Gone is a crime thriller with significant surprises and twists. The excellent cast and performances accentuated the emotional toll of working on a kidnapping case, and that emotional weight saturates every aspect of the film. Unfortunately, that heavy tone makes the movie a little challenging to enjoy. The dismal and somber mood throughout left me just feeling sad at the end. That poignant hopeless nature was clearly the goal and was well executed but keeps it from being a traditionally "enjoyable" film.

Private detectives "Patrick" (Casey Affleck) and "Angie" (Michelle Monaghan) are drafted in by the mother of a missing girl to try to find out what's happened. This is pretty much virgin territory for the pair, but they are local and so might be able to unearth sources unwilling to discuss with the police efforts being led by "Doyle" (Morgan Freeman). Now it's fair to say that the child's mother "Helene" (Amy Ryan) is probably not the most attentive of parents, but she is determined to be reunited with her daughter. What now ensues follows this investigation into their Boston suburb - one that takes them into contact with crooks, drug dealers and an whole fraternity of dangerous hoodlums. Their searching does, however, start to bear fruit -...