My hat's off to the Afflecks.
GONE BABY GONE might just be a run-of-the-mill Hollywood thriller, but it seems to operate at the highest level it can within its box.
Ben's direction is well-paced and accomplished beyond his experience. And brother Casey is flat-out phenomenal here in a tortured, sure performance as a detective who is tortured by his inability to return a missing girl to her mother.
Amy Morton (Oscar-nominated) is great as a horrible human being, and the best part of the film is its final half hour, when the film gets what, on the surface, would seem like a traditional happy Hollywood ending. What's amazing is that the happy ending instead reveals a gigantic moral mess, and the evidence of Casey Affleck's tortured soul sticks with you long after the final scene of the film leaves you disgusted and unsure.
There are dozens of movies like this. I'm not sure that this film is a full level above them, but it is certainly among the best of its bunch.
3.0 out of 4
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