Reviewed by Neil Davey
Stars Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, John Ashton, Amy Madigan,
Madeline O'Brien | Written by Ben Affleck & Aaron Stockard, based on the novel by Dennis Lehane
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £17.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 109 minutes | Directed by Ben Affleck
There have been any number of unlikely career revivals over the years, mostly at the hands of Quentin Tarantino. However, it looked like even the Tarantino effect couldn't help Ben Affleck. After a glorious start – Kevin Smith movies, Good Will Hunting, Boiler Room – a couple of bad career choices and an even worse dating one turned Affleck into something of a joke.
But the last couple of years has seen him put the whole "Bennifer" thing and Gigli behind him with the minimum of fuss. First came Hollywoodland, and a superb, subtle performance that made it easier to forgive, and forget, Pearl Harbor. Now – after much unfortunate delay – comes Gone Baby Gone, his directorial debut. And, of course, fans of YouTube will also know the tongue-in-cheek joys of the "I'm Fucking Matt Damon / Ben Affleck" saga, but that's not important right now.
What is important is the excellent Gone Baby Gone. Affleck certainly didn't take the easy route for his first movie behind the camera. As well as child abduction, the plot, from a typically downbeat novel by Dennis "Mystic River" Lehane, touches on paedophilia, murder, substance abuse and the sort of violence you'd expect to see on the wrong side of Boston. Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) is a young private investigator from that wrong side of Boston. He may look young – a subject that's touched on regularly to bitterly amusing effect – but growing up on these streets means he's seen it all. When local four-year old Amanda McCready (O'Brien) goes missing, her grandparents call in Patrick and his partner / girlfriend Angie (Monaghan) to provide the sort of ear-to-the-ground the police – Freeman, Harris, Ashton – can't achieve.
As Casey proved in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, he's an exceptional actor; this performance merely adds to that reputation. It would be enough for Affleck to hold his own against the likes of Freeman and Harris – not to mention Oscar nominee Amy Ryan as Amanda's drug-addled mother – but here he takes things further, taking most of the film's not inconsiderable weight on his slender shoulders.
And, basically, the Affleck brothers knock this out of the park. From the crackling dialogue to balls-out action – a terrifying raid on a known paedophile's house – Gone Baby Gone is an enormously impressive piece of work. It is, arguably, let down slightly by the ending which, in the context of what's gone before and Lehane's reputation for the darker aspects of the human soul, feels oddly trite and predictable. However, the journey to that point, and the efficiency and intelligence with which Affleck as director dissects the moral dilemmas within, make Gone Baby Gone a quite exceptional film.
EXTRAS Not a cracker.