Gone Baby Gone

Release date: October 19, 2007
Directed by: Ben Affleck
Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman

Ben Affleck has finally stepped out of the shadow of poor film (Daredevil, Jersey Girl, Gigli) and publicity choices (a tabloid-frenzied engagement to Jennifer Lopez) with his recent accomplished performance in Hollywoodland and his riveting directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, which could and should earn him some best director nods come awards season.

Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane (whose Mystic River was turned into a critically-acclaimed film by Clint Eastwood), Gone Baby Gone is about the abduction of Amanda McCready, a 5-year-old girl from a working-class 'burb in Boston, Massachusetts. Amanda's aunt and uncle, frustrated with the police forces' inability to get information from some of the local less-desirables, beg private investigators Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Monaghan) to help them find Amanda. Angie and Patrick, who's grown up in the neighbourhood and knows all of its residents (both the good and the really bad), are reluctant, but when their heartstrings are pulled just right, they agree to help. When half of the people Patrick knows are crooks and the other half are cops, his chances aren't half bad.

Patrick, whose job is to "find the people who started in the cracks and fell through," acts as a conduit, both for the police and the audience, into Boston's surrounding derelict hoods and introduces the drug addicts, hustlers and criminals who inhabit it. Ben Affleck has clearly stuck to what he does best. The director and his best bud Matt Damon won a best screenplay Oscar for Good Will Hunting, about a blue-collar janitor at Massachusetts' MIT. Among Affleck's other wise moves for his first time in the director's chair was his decision to cast younger brother Casey in the lead role.

The younger Affleck has only recently begun to command attention from audiences and critics alike, most notably for his recent turn as the cowardly killer in The Assassination Of Jesse James. Much like his character Patrick, Casey's youth and good looks mask his abilities. Patrick comes up against hardened detectives who think his age makes him inept. One tells him to "go back to your Harry Potter book." Some of the rough-around-the-edges locals use the you-think-you're-better-than-me ethos to separate themselves from the detective. A bar owner tells him to leave cause they don't make martinis. These misperceptions surrounding age and social class both help and hurt Patrick in his effort to track down Amanda and those who may have taken her.

The pace of the film ebbs and flows and there are times when, much like Casey Affleck's slow and steady voice, almost comes to a halt. About half way through, it all seems to have come to a conclusion, but then picks back up again. Most of the revelations are crammed into the tail-end of the film, leaving the biggest reveal less than surprising. Gone Baby Gone is a morally ambiguous film and you'll be pondering the questions that it raises for hours after it's over. What makes someone a good person? How far are you willing to go for your beliefs? Is doing the "right thing" always justified? Ben Affleck is back baby back.