One of the most well made and satisfying thrillers I've seen in ages

Rating: 10/10 (14 June 2008)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and his girlfriend Michelle (Angie Gennaro) run a private detective agency in a run down Boston area. But they're about to get their big break when the family of a missing little girl hire them to find her. But they encounter some negative vibes off police captain Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman) with his own tragic history with his own child who views them as amateurs and the two heavy handed cops assigned to the case, Detectives Remy Bressant (Ed Harris) and Nick Poole (John Ashton) who they are lead to form an uneasy relationship with. Although the family appear distraught, the little girl's home life is revealed to be no bed of roses, with her coke addicted mother Helene (Amy Ryan) and shady relatives. Eventually it appears to have been solved, only for events to take a sinister turn and for things to turn out in a way no one could have expected.
This arrived pretty much out of nowhere for me, and is probably one I wouldn't have bothered with if I hadn't become aware of the plot line and the rave reviews it had received. It turns out it was actually held back due to it's parallels with the Madeleine McCann case and indeed, as a film it does eerily resemble the case, both in the little girl's resemblance to Madeleine and the theme of the home life of her family turning out to be rather undesirable and some scabby family members trying to milk cash out of it. I often tend to disagree with critics who give a lot of films the five star treatment, but they were spot on here as Ben Affleck has proved a better director than actor and has crafted a fittingly bleak, edgy, gritty and exciting thriller full of unexpected twists and turns that keep you hooked right to the end.
With his younger brother in the lead role, we are presented a raw, unflinching film that isn't afraid to show the grimy reality of undesirables living in run down, poor, drug addled areas and the depravity in the trail of child abduction cases. Just when it looks like it's wrapping up and the film's over, but you're sitting there thinking that's ended rather quickly, the film pulls the trick a couple more times until the film gets it's real ending that pays off in a way you couldn't have expected it to.
With such a credited cast list, it's no surprise that some great performances help keep the film afloat, especially the reliably great Freeman and Harris, an actor I could always take or leave before but who here really gives his role as a tough, unflinching cop a vitality and edge that makes him stand out.
Listen to the reviews this time (especially mine!) as this is one of the most well made and satisfying thrillers you'll have seen in a long time. *****