Today’s quick review: Gone Baby Gone. When a young girl goes missing in Boston, the family hires private detective Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and his girlfriend Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) to find her. Captain Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman), the officer in charge of the case, assigns Detective Remy Bressant (Ed Harris) to assist them. But with few leads to go on, the detectives must confront the possibility that the girl may be gone for good.
Gone Baby Gone is a crime drama and mystery from director Ben Affleck. Patrick’s investigation takes him through the underbelly of Boston as he searches for Amanda McCready, a girl who vanished from her home without a trace. Gone Baby Gone raises tough moral questions, packs a couple of excellent plot twists, and paints an uncomfortably realistic portrait of missing persons cases. However, its particular brand of drama won’t be to everyone’s taste.
Gone Baby Gone excels at a very specific kind of drama: the dread and uncertainty that accompany a missing child. Amanda’s disappearance not only drives the plot but pushes Patrick and Angie to the edge. Gone Baby Gone does not pull its punches, using pain, loss, and ambiguity to convey its themes. Its well-developed tone is backed by a couple of potent plot twists and gut-wrenching moral dilemmas that reward viewers who stick with its winding story.
The price for these strengths is a lopsided, oddly paced story. The plot has the same arrhythmic pacing and uncertainty that real-life missing persons cases do. The investigation goes through a few promising leads before hitting a brick wall, lying dormant for a while, and picking up again in a different direction. While the effect is intentional, it does give the story a stilted, discontinuous quality that not all viewers will find satisfying.
Watch Gone Baby Gone if you’re interested in a dark, realistic thriller with a keen sense of drama and some good twists. Gone Baby Gone hits the target it’s aiming for thanks to its tone, acting, and overall storytelling quality. However, the film will only appeal to some: those who prefer tidy plots, moral certainty, or adventure in their mystery will not get much out of it. Those who are curious will want to give it a shot.
For another ambiguous drama about a missing child, check out Changeling. For another Boston-based crime drama with more action, try The Departed or The Town. For a small-town investigation with a somber tone and similarly drastic twists, check out Insomnia. For a legal drama with a similar tone and even more drastic twists, check out Primal Fear.
7.7 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 7.0 to 7.5 for well-executed drama; your score will vary.