Sometimes, when all else fails, one has to stop, assess the situation, and come up with a new strategy. It might cost a lot emotionally, mentally, and physically to do so, but the pause might lead to better things down the road, possibly even a happy ending. Even if things don't work out perfectly for the protagonist of Gone Baby Gone, things seem to be looking up for its director, Ben Affleck.
For the past few years, Affleck's acting career seemed in peril as movie after movie performed below expectations at the box office. So, the star took a break from being in front of the camera and decided to go behind it for a change. Along with Aaron Stockard, Affleck adapted Dennis Lehane's novel, Gone Baby Gone, and turned it in to a solid feature film directorial debut.
The movie is a gritty thriller that follows private detective Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and his partner Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) as they search for a missing young girl. The two are helping (and sometimes hampered by) the Boston Police Department in the form of Captain Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman), Detective Remy Bressant (Ed Harris), and Detective Nick Poole (John Ashton).
Hired by the missing girl's aunt and uncle, Kenzie and Gennaro are brought onto the case because they are from the neighborhood and supposedly can get people to talk who otherwise might be unwilling to discuss matters with the police. The tactic works and Kenzie and Gennaro are able to give the police a leg up they might not otherwise have gotten.
As the film progresses, the intrigues get deeper and deeper and the double-crosses more serious. By the end of the film, Kenzie is forced to make choices that will have a great impact not just on the girl's family, but himself as well.
It may seem, at first blush, that by casting Casey Affleck in the lead role, Ben may have taken some sort of shortcut or that he couldn't get a bigger name. However, Casey is wonderful, and wholly believable, in the film and it certainly proves to be one of the best performances he has done.
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