Gone Baby Gone

Well, I know I will no do this movie justice.  If you have ever had an anti-anxiety pill, you will know that the little pill packs a punch of goodness.  While it helps calm the emotional oceans, it also makes operating heavy machinery a bad idea.  Myself, I am a lightweight with medications.  I hardly ever take a pill for anything, so while most people take one full anti-anxiety pill, I only take a quarter and life is good.  I think I have had multiple quarters of that happy little pill by this point, so I may not be quite all with us.  Soldier on, that's what I shall do.  Or something like that.  Perhaps a nap.  More than likely, this will be a bit of a shorter review.

Anywho, the movie I am reviewing today is Gone Baby Gone (now available on Netflix), and it is Ben Affleck's directorial debut.  While many people line up to criticize the acting capabilities of this man, his skill behind the camera really needs to be respected as he is extremely gifted in telling a story.  The movie follows a young couple who are private investigators that specialize in missing persons, Patrick (Casey Affleck) and Angie (Michelle Monaghan).  When a young girl goes missing, the aunt and uncle of the abducted child hire Patrick and Angie to assist the police in bringing her home safely.  During the investigation, there are many twists and turns as Patrick begins to unravel a case that is much bigger than he imagined.

Ben Affleck does an amazing job in creating the atmosphere for this film.  There is a lot of attention put into showing cutaway shots of the neighbourhood, focusing both on the physical nature of it, but also the personal side of it.  We get an idea of the residents, what they are like, the conditions they live in, and their way of life.  This is furthered by the dialogue, which I will admit was a bit hard to follow at times with the New England accents, but it just furthered the sense of authenticity of the movie.  There were a number of tense scenes that were not over dramatic, like some movies, but more focused on the nuanced street smarts that Patrick uses to get by.  I should mention that Casey Affleck has a wonderful performance in this movie.

Affleck walks the hard ground with this movie, as the topic of child abduction is a very loaded one to create a story around.  There is a great emotional response that the audience can have to such a plot point, and it is treated with respect, but also used in a way that allows us to feel the proper amount of unease, disgust, and also hope in the safe return of the missing Amanda.  It plays well to the thriller aspect with run-ins with ever so creepy environments and characters.

The best part about this movie, though, is that it has another level to it.  It is an interesting watch and a very good movie, but it also serves as a discussion point on ethics and morals.  The movie culminates around right and wrong, justice, and the subjective nature to which people view each of those things differently.  Watching it, I got a clear sense of the ethical structure that people on opposite sides of the argument were bringing to the table and felt no pull from the director that we were to lean one way or another.  When a movie entertains, bravo.  When it entertains and makes me think, that's when the money and the time spent were more than well worth it.

Rating - 3.5 out of 4 stars