Gone Baby Gone

Let’s get some things straight about this review (and all the reviews I do of my LoveFilm rental list in the future): it’s not going to be like my others. Seeing as though this is my personal ‘space’, I’m gonna loosen the tie a little. Hell, I may even take the tie off completely. See? I’ve started already, by saying hell. This kind of reviewing may be a catastrophic failure, and if so, don’t hesitate to comment and let me know just how terrible I’m doing. If it’s a success, I’ll smugly say I told you so. Also, if you have any films you’d like me to rent and review, comment and I’ll instantly add it to the list.

Seeing as though my first attempt at a casual, informal and quite brilliantly written review hasn’t received any negative feedback (or positive, for that matter), I’ve decided to continue the format.Two days after writing The Fountain review, the welcome sound of a heavier than average envelope with the LoveFilm logo thudded onto my mat. If you don’t rent DVD’s because you think it’d take too long to get the DVD’s, then I highly recommend this service. Seriously, it’s unbelievably quick, and you’ll get an email telling you what’s on the way. It’s incredibly exciting.

Anyway: my latest rental was the Ben Affleck directed, Casey Affleck starring Gone Baby Gone. I’ve seen it before, about 2 years ago, but I remembered it to be a stand out in the gritty police drama genre. After re-watching, I stand by that claim, but here’s a bit of interesting background info and trivia before I get into the review.

In May 2007, the UK was gripped by the tragic case of Madeline McCann, a four year old girl who went missing in Portugal whilst on holiday with her parents. Gone Baby Gone, which was slated for release at the end of the same year, is the story of a four year old girls disappearance and the subsequent search for her. For obvious reasons, the films release date was postponed “indefinitely” in the country, but was eventually released on the 6th June 2008. Coincidentally, the young actress who played the missing girl in the film is named Madeline. That concludes the “background and trivia” section.

I won’t get into the plot too much, because I’d get all flustered and spoil it all. All you need to know is that a 4 year old goes missing, Casey Affleck is hired to find her and there’s more to people than first thought. Oh, and it also stars Omar from The Wire.

So, why would I put this above a lot of other police dramas? The Departed, as brilliant of a film as it is, was set in the same area (Boston) yet this feels more “real”, and genuine. It’s not due to lack of star power either; the mighty Morgan Freeman stars in this, as does Ed Harris. I believe it’s due to the incredible, lifelong observational work that went into the script: both Afflecks grew up in Massachusetts so knew and met the kind of people featured in this film daily.

As you probably guessed, it’s far from straight forward. There are so many twists and turns, you’d be forgiven if you felt metaphorically nauseous from it all (is that even possible?). The payoff is worth it though; an ending that raises many moral questions and brought a tear to my eye even on the second viewing.I apologise for the shorter than usual review, but seriously this is one that has to be seen… words can’t describe just how fantastic it is