Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Genre: Drama / Mystery
Duration: 114 minuten
Country:
United States
Directed by: Ben Affleck
Stars: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan and Morgan Freeman
IMDb score:
7,6 (309.275)
Releasedate: 6 June 2007
Gone Baby Gone plot
"Everyone wants the truth... until they find it."
Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angela Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) are private detectives in Boston. Both have become wise through trial and error and have come to know the city in many ways. When a four-year-old girl turns out to have been kidnapped, they initially don't want to take the case. But her aunt keeps begging and the detectives give in. They become entangled in a web of crimes and it turns out that they have to put everything on the line.
Actors and actresses
Patrick Kenzie
Angie Gennaro
Jack Doyle
Sgt. Det. Remy Bressant
Det. Nick Poole
Helene McCready
Bea McCready
Lionel McCready
Devin
"Cheese" Jean Baptiste
Reviews & comments
tbouwh
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- 5823 messages
- 5404 votes
My attention was aroused: a narrative concept that often works well for me and a quality cast. Still, Gone Baby Gone turned out to be a movie that I (unfortunately) couldn't get into. Not a disappointment, but a big disappointment.
From the start, it was already a search for a balance between the crime element (including unnecessary coarse language) and the accompanying drama. That balance never really came about. In my view, the film kept navigating between the slowed-down scenes that played on sentiment and the harsher crime elements. The score of Gregson-Williams actually only matched those first parts, and that was quite wrong. Here and there I almost felt like I was watching two movies at once.
Anyway, that's one thing, Gone Baby Gone unfortunately didn't really captivate anywhere else. The screenplay (after Dennis Lehane's book) is fine in itself, but has no other surprises in store. The plot twists are of course there, but feel a bit forced after the build-up of the first hour. I also thought the cast was mediocre. Affleck is still doing reasonably well, but Monaghan is very annoying, while Freeman again gets too little screen time. Harris, on the other hand, shows too much of himself, so that you get an interaction between flat characters who seem to repel each other rather than credibly go together.
Gone Baby Gone never managed to attract attention, and therefore goes into memory as a somewhat colorless film. The atmosphere is missing and the balance between crime and drama is lost. In combination with the lack of a complementary cast, this generates a situation in which the dilemmas that are discussed never come across well.
2*
Translated from Dutch · View original
remorz
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- 2498 messages
- 2750 votes
Good movie.
Mainly a strong role from Affleck. Maybe not the best fit for the role, but he stands his ground. Can't remember ever seeing him fill a role so strongly. What did I see him in? Gerry, Ocean's Eleven? At most in Out of the Furnace he managed to make a bit of an impression. Still, I'm going to look up more of him.
He is the only one who can build a credible bridge between the two faces of this film; that of sentiment and the harsh underworld. From empathetic to violent. Other characters remain a bit superficial. Affleck really amazes with his ability to switch between the two.
The course of the film is a bit faltering (strange that the first case ends at some point and has to become part of a bigger picture) and dull, especially the denouement. Reminded me a bit of The Tall Man (2012), which had similarly elaborately incorporated motifs into the plot. From a authoritative position as a police officer, protection of the children must be more efficient - not to say legally - effected, you would think.
Film is especially atmospheric and that makes a big difference. Audiovisually a bit boring but with relatively many good, layered dialogues. Nice scene in the car when Affleck tries to placate the junkie mom and Monaghan can't hide her disgust. Fascinating enough with a few pretty sultry scenes, but this doesn't get much more than mediocre. 3*
Translated from Dutch · View original
FlorisV
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- 1859 messages
- 798 votes
A solid, reasonably successful, but also not very catchy drama with a search for the complicated truth, which imposes several ethical dilemmas. I only realized after an hour of watching that I had seen this film before. For some reason it only got stuck half way. Although quite a few plot twists come out at the end, not much happens in the first half either. That slow pace doesn't do the film much good, just like that flat Boston accent which irritates, despite the excellent acting. The ending isn't entirely satisfying either. Affleck has progressed well with his later films, The Town was already a lot more exciting and Argo was an extremely fine film. Nevertheless, a very decent debut.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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