Ben Affleck’s complicated and assured 2007 directorial debut Gone Baby Gone was a major surprise coming from a first-time director. Scroll down to read Nick Clement’s Gone Baby Gone movie review!
Rather than churning out an empty action film as his first directorial effort, Affleck, along with co-writer Aaron Stockard, skillfully adapted a morally complex crime novel from Mystic River author Denis Lehane.
Affleck relied upon certain genre tropes (aesthetic and thematic) to propel the piece in key spots.
The film was directed with a veteran’s touch in many instances, and felt uncommonly mature for a first-timer. It no doubt was smart of Affleck to surround himself with top-flight craftspeople in all departments.
Working with a splendid cast of veteran actors as well as recruiting amateurs from the streets of Boston, Affleck showed an immediate ability during the opening moments of Gone Baby Gone with setting a strong atmosphere and authentic flavor.
The story takes place in the working-class, low-income neighborhoods surrounding Beantown, where drug abuse, crime, and poverty are common.
Affleck, a Boston native, has an intrinsic knowledge of these neighborhoods and the people. This results in a film that feels natural and believable, no matter how sordid the particulars of the story get.
Affleck didn’t make an empty action film as his directorial debut. He went and adapted a morally complex crime novel instead – Nick Clement
Casey Affleck had a banner year in 2007, giving terrific performances here and in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. In Gone Baby Gone, he’s private investigator Patrick Kenzie, a low-key private-eye who when push comes to shove isn’t afraid to get nasty.
He lives and works with his girlfriend Angie, played by the pretty yet slightly miscast Michelle Monaghan. They are approached for help by the aunt and uncle of a local four-year-old girl who has disappeared from her apartment. The girl’s mother, Helene, played with diseased, white-trash intensity by Amy Ryan, is a semi-junkie who can barely take care of herself, let alone a child.
The cops are on the case as well. Led by police captain Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman), and detective Remy Bressant (Ed Harris), though their loyalties remain a mystery.
Gone Baby Gone is almost two movies in one.
Packed full of multiple story-lines all adding up to a sad but honest conclusion. The moral ambiguity that Gone Baby Gone revels in results in an interesting picture to watch.
Gone Baby Gone Dialogue
Some of the actions taken by the characters are questionable. But when you think about some of the nastier and tougher choices that the characters have to make, you might find yourself agreeing with how things end up playing out.
People “get what they deserve” in this movie. There’s a thrill that comes with this overall mentality. “Murder is a sin,” Kenzie quietly remarks to Bressant at a crucial moment in the film. “Depends on who you do it too,” Bressant coolly retorts. It’s a powerful, simple exchange of dialogue.
It provides the audience with an extra layer of insight into an already complicated series of events.
Casey Affleck is positively riveting all throughout Gone Baby Gone. Ditching the purposefully mannered and rigid technique that he brought to his work in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, the role of Kenzie seems like a role that Affleck was born to play. His non-threatening physical attributes clash with his hot temper.
While holding a gun Affleck looks and feels like a young private investigator.
Even though he may seem too baby-faced for the part upon first sight think again.
Any doubt in your mind will be erased immediately after the first act.
Overall
Harris, who seems incapable of ever being bad or uninteresting on-screen, tore up his scenes with a vicious ferocity that only a few actors seem to be able to channel. This is a brooding, menacing film that requires brooding, menacing screen presence, and Harris is right at home.
Freeman, in a slightly different role than what he’s normally asked to do, is his usual suave self. But it’s Amy Ryan who totally stuns as Helene, the disgusting, reprehensible mother of the missing child. Never seeming to truly care about her daughter’s disappearance, Ryan creates a portrait of a mommy-monster that is chilling in its persuasiveness.
Gone Baby Gone is a crime film for crime film lovers.
The story lives in and travels to some tough, upsetting places. Gone Baby Gone features people who are all wounded, either emotionally or physically (or both).
The overriding sense of grime and filth leaves you feeling a little skeevy by the end of it.
Gone Baby Gone movie review by Nick Clement
Rating
Summary
Gone Baby Gone is powerfully written and directed and acted, and it’s a piece of entertainment that will leave you discussing its themes and story implications long after you’ve watched.
