Ben Affleck should stay behind the camera instead of in front of it. That's the conclusion one will come to after watching "Gone Baby Gone."
Affleck, who directed and co-wrote the film based on Dennis Lehane's novel of the same name, creates a dark and gritty thriller that examines the ethical and moral limits of its characters.
"Gone Baby Gone" tells the story of private investigators Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck, Ben's younger brother) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan).
The two, along with two morally suspect Boston police detectives Remy Bressant (Ed Harris) and Nick Poole (John Ashton), try to find a 4-year-old girl who has been kidnapped from her negligent cocaine-addicted mother, Helene McCready (Amy Ryan).
Lucky for the police, Patrick seems to have connections with every delinquent and drug dealer in Dorchester, a tough Boston neighborhood, and helps track down leads from some of Dorchester's most upstanding citizens.
In several ways, Ben Affleck makes the movie as realistic as possible through camera angles, dialogue and appearance. The characters have thick Boston accents, which at times makes them sound as if they are speaking a totally different language. The dialogue also lends itself to the realistic aspect of the movie. If a nickel dropped from the sky every time a character said f--- throughout the film, one could walk out of the theater with twenty bucks. Ben Affleck also strays from the norm by not filling his cast with the overly gorgeous and glamorous. Characters look as if they have been picked straight out of a trailer park, even having his baby-faced brother, Casey, appear as if he came from a run-down neighborhood.
Casey Affleck does a good job in the role of Patrick, playing a character who is a bastion of moral fortitude, who in the end, regrets some of the decisions he made during the film. While "Gone Baby Gone" features mostly forgettable performances from its supporting cast, Harris assures us that he is a notable exception with his character, Remy. After his partner is hospitalized following a raid, Bressant has an incredibly heated and adrenaline-filled exchange with Patrick that will leave you breathless.
The first hour of the film feels like two and drags along as evidence is gathered in the kidnapping case; however, it picks up with several twists and turns which lead to several ethical questions. In the end, the director leaves the answers of these ethical questions up to each individual, making the movie much more effective than if it had tried to answer them.
Ben Affleck does a solid job in his directorial debut, producing a gritty and captivating film showing how certain issues are not always as black and white as they originally seem.
"Gone Baby Gone" opened last Friday.
David McNeely can be reached at mcneely.18@osu.edu.
Be the first to comment on this story