Solid in most of the good ways, a bit predictable

Ben Affleck’s directorial debut Gone Baby Gone adapted from the Dennis Lehane novel by the same name is solid but not spectacular and is a victim of timing.

In a dangerous neighborhood on Boston’s south side a four-year old girl, Amanda, disappears. Though the police are doing all they can, Amanda’s aunt Bea (Amy Madigan) and uncle Lionel (Titus Welliver) hire private detectives Patrick Kinsey (Casey Affleck) and his girlfriend/associate Angie (Michelle Monaghan to augment the police investigation. Apparently by Boston law, the police are obligated to share information they find with private investigators and vice versa. I will state the obvious anyway—this will lead to some interesting twists.

The investigation points to a kidnapping in lieu of money owed a drug dealer. Amanda’s mother Helene (Amy Ryan) is a heavy drug user and sometime mule for her dealer. The police, Patrick, and Angie get involved in a swap of the girl for the cash. Things go horribly wrong.

Not too long after this a 7 year old boy goes missing. Following leads, Patrick and the police involved in the Amanda case--Remy Bressant (Ed Harris) and Nick Poole (John Ashton)—come to help as the lead becomes more and more credible.

Gone Baby Gone is a layered glazing. If I say too much the muddy picture becomes too clean too fast and ruins the effect. I will say that the plot alone is reason enough to watch the film.

Directors with more films to their credit have signatures, so it is very difficult to determine whether this is or will be true for the older Affleck. The camerawork was good but not great; the best and worst thing I can say is that it never gets in the way. His choice of action and character development are predictable, but this doesn’t cause any problems, it just locks Gone Baby Gone into the multiple storyline with red herrings aplenty genre.

The acting was generally good, but the accents were terrible. Casey Affleck seemed out of his usual element in that he was surprisingly good. Amy Madigan also stood out despite her role being small. Morgan Freeman (who plays the chief of a division devoted to crimes against children) is his usual stellar self. Everyone else was good but no one else stood out.

I say the film is a victim of time because 3 years before, Sean Penn directed the very successful Mystic River about a child missing from a dangerous neighborhood in Boston’s south side. Mystic is a stronger story, so if watched back to back Gone Baby Gone may not register in the slightest. If you have seen Mystic then you will have to cut Gone some slack; if you have not seen the earlier film, then this one will still be fresh.

Either way, the film is worth the time spent.

Recommended:
Yes