Gone Baby Gone Review

Figured I should post my thoughts on Gone Baby Gone before it got too late in the month for them to be relevant, so- happy Saturday everyone.

Ben Affleck returns successfully to the gritty Boston world that made him famous to begin with, after years of tabloid shenanigans and questionable script choices, with a powerful directorial debut.

It's tempting to give more credit to Dennis Lehane, the author of the novel Gone Baby Gone as well as the bestselling Mystic River, but the atmosphere and authentic tone of this film is more than a translation: Casey Affleck, the director's younger brother, delivers a thoughtful voice over as the film opens, over shots of the Boston projects rich with tender detail. It's a movie with a believable background.

Affleck (the younger) plays a private investigator hired to bring a local aspect to the search for a missing four-year-old girl. As he deals with drug dealers, dive bar denizens, and corrupt cops that may be involved, he's constantly faced with situations where the right thing to do isn't immediately clear.

And that's the real strength of this movie: Affleck, Morgan Freeman's police chief, and Ed Harris's detective all make complex decisions for different reasons, and the film never condemns or praises anyone.

Michelle Monaghan plays Affleck's partner/girlfriend, and does okay in a weak part- her character seems to exist mostly to act like a wet blanket ("She's dead. Let it go, Patrick.") and to have an important disagreement with Affleck at the end. The two have little chemistry, but that's mostly because the role is so perfunctory.

The disagreement regards a decision Affleck has to make when he discovers, finally, what's really been going on. And while I don't want to spoil anything, what I loved was that Gone Baby Gone includes a final scene designed specifically to cast in doubt whether or not everything ended up for the best.

It's unrelenting, and unsettling, and makes a good procedural drama all the more memorable.

When to See It: Before it Leaves Theaters