00s Movie Review - Gone Baby Gone

Director: Ben Affleck
Genre: Drama/ Mystery/ Crime
Runtime: 114 minutes
Year: 2007
Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Amy Ryan, Titus Welliver, Amy Madigan, Michael Kenneth Williams

Description: Two Boston area detectives (Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan) investigate a little girl’s kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally.

Review: Is a bad deed justifiable if the consequence is ultimately good? What are good intentions worth if the consequences are bad? And what then is good and bad, and do those words have any meaning at all? Such questions arise when watching “Gone Baby Gone”, directed by Ben Affleck and based on the book by Dennis Lehane. Affleck created an engaging, intelligent film.

Private detective couple Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro are hired by Helene McCready’s sister-in-law to track down Helene’s missing four-year-old daughter Amanda. They discover that Helene has robbed a drug dealer and suspect that the drug dealer has something to do with Amanda’s abduction. An attempt to strike a bargain with the dealer and exchange the stolen money for the child goes horribly wrong.

Months later, Kenzie works another kidnapping case where he must find and free a missing boy from the hands of a pedophile. In the process, Patrick makes some decisions that are very difficult for him and also stumbles upon a secret that presents him with even more difficult decisions. The question is not so much whether he can make the right decision, but whether there are any at all in our modern society.

It was a good idea by Ben Affleck to keep the moral uncertainties that arise in a disrupted world without a clearly identifiable right or wrong. This keeps the story and a few plot twists interesting. I’ve always liked Ben Affleck more as a directed than an actor, so I’m happy he decided to cast his brother Casey Affleck for the lead role, instead of starrin in it himself. The younger Affleck is in my opinion the better actor of the two and he proves that in “Gone Baby Gone”. Helene McCready is played by Amy Ryan, who really shines in her role.

“Gone Baby Gone” is a really good crime mystery, that is engaging from start to finish. An overlooked film in my opinion, not many people seem to talk about it anymore.

Rating: 4,5 / 5

Netflix Friday - Volume 61

Some Netflix film tips for the weekend! And there is something for everyone, since I picked a movie for all the different genres.
 

Action: The Italian Job (2003)
After being betrayed and left for dead in Italy, Charlie Croker (Mark Wahlberg) and his team plan an elaborate gold heist against their former ally.
 

Drama: Victoria & Adbul (2017)
Queen Victoria (Judy Dench) strikes up an unlikely friendship with a young Indian clerk named Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal).
 

Comedy: Barney’s Version (2010)
The picaresque and touching story of the politically incorrect, fully lived life of the impulsive, irascible and fearlessly blunt Barney Panofsky (Paul Giamatti).
 

Animation: The Lego Movie (2014)
An ordinary LEGO construction worker (Chris Pratt), thought to be the prophesied as “special”, is recruited to join a quest to sop an evil tyrant (Will Ferrell) from gluing the LEGO universe into eternal stasis.
 

Romance: Shall We Dance (2004)
A bored, overworked estate lawyer (Richard Gere) signs up for ballroom dancing lessons.
 

Horror: Fear Street Part 1: 1994 (2021)
A circle of teenage friends accidentally encounter the ancient evil responsible for a series of brutal murders that have plagued their town for over 300 years. Welcome to Shadyside.
 

Science Fiction: In the Shadow of the Moon (2019)
A Philadelphia police officer (Boyd Holbrook) struggles with a lifelong obsession to track down a mysterious serial killer whose crimes defy explanation.
 

Crime: Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Two Boston area detectives (Casey Affleck, Michelle Monoghan) investigate a little girl’s kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally.
 

Thriller: Red Dragon (2002)
A retired FBI agent (Edward Norton) with psychological gifts is assigned to help track down “The Tooth Fairy” (Ralph Fiennes), a mysterious serial killer. Aiding him is imprisoned forensic psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter.
 

Documentary: Pelé (2016)
Pelé’s meteoric rise from the slums of Sao Paulo to leading Brazil to its first World Cup victory at the age of 17 is chronicled in this biographical drama.
 

Family: Matilda (1996)
Matilda Wormwood (Mara Wilson) is a gifted girl forced to put up with a crude, distant father and mother.

50 Books Challenge - # 2: Gone Baby Gone by Dennis Lehane

Title: Gone Baby Gone
Author: Dennis Lehane
Story: Boston private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are hired to find four-year-old Amanda McCready, abducted from her home without leaving a trace. Despite extensive news coverage and dogged investigation, the police inquiry has uncovered nothing. The case is rife with oddities: Amanda's indifferent mother, a couple with a history of paedophilia and a shadowy police unit. As the Indian summer fades, Amanda McCready stays gone - vanished so completely that she seems never to have existed. When a second child disappears, Kenzie and Gennaro face a local media more interested in sensationalizing the abductions than helping to solve them, a local police force seething with lethal secrets, and a faceless power determined to obstruct their efforts. Caught in a deadly tangle of lies, and determined to unravel a riddle that is anything but child's play, they soon discover that those who go looking for the missing may not come back alive.
Start: january 4th 2011
End: january 12th 2011
Comment: It's a very good story but some parts weren't as interesting. I really liked both Patrick and Angie and the ending was very surprising. It got me thinking, what would I do in a situation like that. It took me a long time to finish it, because I couldn't keep my attention at all times. I'm glad that I finished it eventually, because it's an OK book.
Rating: 3/ 5