A Thought-Provoking Child Abduction Drama

Rating: 8/10 (24 April 2015)

Child abduction dramas make unpleasant viewing for most parents, so it's particularly pleasing that in the case of this movie, anyone who gets over their reluctance to watch it will be richly rewarded by the thought-provoking way in which it addresses some difficult ethical questions, considers the role that conscience plays in people's decision-making and asks whether it can ever be right for individuals to take the law into their own hands. This is a movie that starts off very routinely but rapidly becomes extremely gripping as each new development unfolds.
When a 4-year-old girl goes missing from her home in the Dorchester neighbourhood of Boston and the police investigation doesn't produce any early results, the girl's aunt, Bea McCready (Amy Madigan) hires a couple of small-time local private investigators to assist with the search. Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and his business partner / girlfriend Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan), who normally specialise in missing persons cases, have very good connections in the area and are quickly able to gather information that discredits Helene McCready's (Amy Ryan) account of where she was on the evening when her daughter went missing.
The police officer in charge of the investigation, Captain Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman) doesn't appreciate the involvement of Patrick and Angie but in accordance with his obligations, assigns Detective Sergeant Remy Bressant (Ed Harris) and Detective Nick Poole (John Ashton) to co-operate with the couple and share information. Single mother Helene McCready is a hard-drinking drug addict who, on the night of her daughter's disappearance, was with her boyfriend Skinny Ray Likanski (Sean Malone) and it soon becomes clear that they'd stolen some money from a local Haitian drug lord called Cheese (Edi Gathegi). Skinny Ray had been murdered shortly after the theft and after the detectives locate the stolen cash, they set up a meeting at a quarry with Cheese so that his money can be returned to him in exchange for the little girl.
Things go terribly wrong during the meeting when the girl seemingly falls from a great height into a pool at the bottom of the quarry and is apparently drowned. Captain Doyle (whose own daughter had been kidnapped and killed years earlier) accepts responsibility for what happened and takes early retirement from his job. The whole case is then regarded as wrapped-up but a number of discrepancies that Patrick recognises, lead him to continue his investigations until he discovers that the kidnapping and the theft of the drug money were all part of an elaborate conspiracy.
Patrick ultimately has to make a decision knowing that the course of action he takes will have a huge impact on the lives of Captain Doyle, Angie and himself as well as one other significant character in the story. The fact that he will have to live with the mixed results of his decision makes him do what his conscience dictates, even though this involves paying a high personal price for his actions.
Patrick is a man who sees right and wrong in very straightforward terms and satisfies his conscience by doing what he believes is right. Remy Bressant, on the other hand, can do something wrong and still have a clear conscience where he knows that the end justifies the means.
First-time director Ben Affleck shows great care and assurance in his work and is especially effective in making the depiction of a working-class area of Boston seem utterly convincing. He also brings out good performances from the entire cast with Amy Ryan (as the thoroughly obnoxious Helene) and Ed Harris providing the standout contributions.