Saturday, March 29, 2008

Gone Baby Gone


I’ll admit right up front that I didn’t care for this movie about the search for a missing little girl, which is based on a novel by Dennis Lehane about his Boston private eye characters Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. That said, I thought it was very well made, with excellent performances from all the actors, a good script and direction by Ben Affleck, and some nice action scenes. But man, what a depressing movie. I’m not saying don’t watch it, though, because I think some of you might consider it a fine film and maybe it just caught me at the wrong moment. I seem to be in the mood for lighter fare these days.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nope, didn't do it for me, but then neither did the books. However, I didn't approve of the way the movie changed the relationship of the two main characters. Gone is Angie's abusive husband, and the angst of their unrequited love. Boo-hoo.

RJR

pattinase (abbott) said...

It's funny how your mood can influence your appreciation of a movie. Or even of a performance. I found it to be better than I expected and certainly competent but it lacked a beating heart. Maybe more of Angie would have provided that.

MysterLynch said...

The movie, like the book, is indeed depressing.

I think Lehane ended up writng Prayers for Rain so the series ended on a more positive note.

To anonymous:
Gone Baby Gone was the fourth book, the abusive husband was gone by the end of the second book. Pat and Angie had been together from late in the second book through Gone Baby Gone.

That really was not changed.

I thought Ben did a nice job of delivering a solid noir film. And this really was noir.

James Reasoner said...

Patti,

Yeah, one thing I noticed was that Angie had almost nothing to do in the film other than stand around. I would have liked to see her take a more active role, too.