Gone Baby Gone

With all of the criticism that Ben Affleck has hailed over the past decade, you would expect that his directing debut would fall in line with those sentiments. He pulls through on this one, with the help of a strong story by the writer of Mystic River and a solid group of performers, one of whom happens to be his little brother.

The story is eerily similar to Mystic River in that a residential working class Boston neighborhood falls victim to a terrible crime only to find the criminal elements band together to put things in their proper place. This story deviates slightly with the protagonist as a street-tough Bostonian private detective who finds himself in over his head taking on a missing persons case. Affleck plays the lead fairly well with his authentic accent and his tough guy demeanor, but there is something a little odd about seeing him in the lead, particularly with heavyweights Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman carrying such strong supporting roles.

Midway through the film, I thought the movie was over without any significant action or suspense, but then the second act began and it really kicked things up a notch. The intensity was subdued after a great shootout sequence, but the story took a clever turn that led to the morally ambiguous ending.

I find myself making comparisons often, and this was no Mystic River. That said, this was not directed by Eastwood either. It was however a good movie. A good story and good acting. Especially impressive was Ed Harris as the hardened detective working with Casey Affleck on the case. Dennis Lehane certainly writes a good tale and I will check out some of his other works after seeing this. 8/10.