Depressing crime thriller

Rating: 7/10 (3 August 2008)

In GONE BABY GONE, director Ben Affleck does a bang-up job with a difficult novel adaptation. If you spot similarities to MYSTIC RIVER, it's because the author (Dennis Lehane) is the same and the setting is almost identical. In South Boston, a little girl goes missing and a private eye (Casey Affleck) is called in by her aunt (Amy Madigan). Affleck and his partner/lover (Sandra Bullock lookalike Michelle Monaghan) are more used to tracing skips, but he decides to take the case against his partner's advice. In the middle of the case, another child is snatched and a known child rapist appears to be the culprit. But did he also snatch the first child? Before the movie is over, almost everyone involved will be damaged or dead and have their lives turned upside down. Casey Affleck, a surprising choice for the lead much in the way Owen Wilson was for ENEMY DOWN, is supported by veteran actors Morgan Freeman as the police captain and Ed Harris and John Ashton as a pair of grizzled police detectives. This movie is not for the faint of heart. It is bloody, extremely vulgar and comes to a very disturbing end that many are likely to find unsatisfying -- much like the ending of MYSTIC RIVER. That's Lehane for ya, and Ben Affleck at least had the courage to end the movie the way the book ended. For the guys, there is a hell of a scary, ultra-realistic shootout in the second half. The rest of the film is mostly talk, although interest never flags.