122 out of 126 people found the following review helpful:

Gone Baby Gone

ValleyJohn from , 30th January, 2008

Here in the UK ' Gone Baby Gone ' was due to be released in December of last year but due to it having a very similar story to the highly publicised real life disappearance of four year Madeleine McCann who went missing in Portugal while on her holiday with her parents , it has yet to be released .Unfortunately she it has still not been found.

I managed to get hold of a copy ( Don't ask how! ) and apart from the fact that the girl is four and looks remarkably like Madeleine the story has very little in common with the tragic case here in Britain. Hopefully when British tabloid press stops their obsession with the McCann case and the truth of what REALLY happened comes out , Gone Baby Gone will get a UK release.

The story begins in the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester, where the gritty, working-class streets are lined with the wreckage of broken families and dreams. It is here that 4 year-old Amanda McCready has gone missing without a trace. The police have failed to turn up even the narrowest of leads, so Amanda's desperate Aunt and Uncle plead with local private investigators Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angie Genarro (Michelle Monaghan) to take the case.

Without a doubt the best thing to come from this film is the performance of Casey Affleck . I was far more impressed with Casey than His brother Ben who directed the film . Ben Affleck managed to catch the gritty feel of a depressed working class Boston suburb but fails miserably to make the story clear enough for the viewer to understand . Or maybe it was just me.!



Half the way through i felt confused to the point of irritation and although it does become clearer near the end what happened to Amanda it felt too contrived and too far fetched to bring me around to loving this film.
It felt a bit of a mess times and it showed that the director was a rookie.
Looking at some of the reviews i have seen i think a few might disagree!

Amy Ryan has received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress and although her performance was good i don't think it merits an academy award. Casey Affleck on the other hand is a massive star in the making.

6 out of 10

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48 out of 49 people found the following review helpful:

Unbelievably Good Debut.

mephistopheles from , 26th May, 2008

Hard to imagine that Ben Affleck actually directed this. It's nothing short of perfection. All the actors give first rate performances. The film itself is sometimes dark but ultimately one of the most beautiful movies you'll likely to see.. Very thought provoking. A controversial ending,which vexed me greatly but that's what real cinema is all about. Just bought it on dvd from the states - worth every penny. Stupidly delayed release over here,due to our ridiculous sensibilities. Absolutely superb!

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37 out of 38 people found the following review helpful:

Can you believe it was Ben Afflect's?

Picktokyo from from London, England, 11th June, 2008

I cant,,, because this movie is: dark has a great twists stunningly clever thought provoking beautiful real anything but Ben Afflect

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29 out of 29 people found the following review helpful:

For the sake of the Child" ?,

crockery from from Belfast, 30th March, 2008

Ben Affleck has crafted a brilliant, dark and disturbing film in GONE BABY GONE with a sensational cast and such strong acting performances from Amy Ryan and Casey Affleck, as well as from a superb supporting cast. Boston lends itself so well to the story and the characters jump off the screen in a very suspenseful tale of a missing child. Like the film, MYSTIC RIVER, GONE BABY GONE brings your neighbors to the fore front in a manner that is both alluring, and frightening at the same time. The question of 'what is right for the child?' is shown on the screen and captured in this film with an ending that will cause an audience to question what is really right, or, what is wrong, in child care rearing and the importance of family. Casey Affleck is magnificent and Michelle Monaghan as his conscience make a wonderful pair on the screen. Of course, Ed Harris is as always, such a strong supporting actor and his role in the film makes the story flow along with the presence of the fabulous Morgan Freeman. I can hardly wait until Ben Affleck does another film like the one he delivers in GONE BABY GONE. Bravo Ben, 'you done good!'....

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My Goodness

Wulf from , 12th March, 2010

i was looking forward to watching this film as Morgan Freeman is a fantastic actor but i was so dissapointed. The accents are terrible cant understand a word they are saying and the film is oh so slow. The plot is ridiculous and totally unbelieveable i woukld not recommend this film in anyway unless you want to fall asleep.

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Gone Baby Gone

A Customer from Watford, 10th March, 2010

An awful lot of swearing. Subtitles seemed impossible to access and so had to keep going over and over to understand/hear what people were saying. Good story though.

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Keep on guessing!

A Customer from Cambridgeshire, 8th March, 2010

Really liked this film as it wasn't one of those obvious story lines and it kept me glued right up until the end. A must see!

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I had expected more

A Customer from Lincoln, 5th March, 2010

But this film was very disappointing for me, excepting Morgan Freedman of course, and the great twist that involved his character. I didn't rate any of the other characters and didn't enjoy the fact that most every scene was so shot in the dark and the acting was so stilted. I had rented it based on great reviews and was sorry that I didn't share the same opinion

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