A surprisingly good directional debut

Rating: 8/10 (1 March 2010)

Who would have thought that Ben Affleck, the actor star of abominable films like Armageddon, Pearl Harbor and Paycheck could end being a good director? He gives us a solid debut with this Boston set crime thriller.
Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) is a private investigator in Dorchester, a rough working class area in Boston. There is a lot of media coverage about the abduction of Amanda McCready, a 3-year-old girl from the area. Patrick and his partner Angie (Michelle Monaghan) are hired by Amanda's family to help find the child. He can talk to the people who won't talk to the police. But this is not a simple case, Amanda's mum, Helene (Amy Ryan) is a drug addict, and she has just robbed a local Haitian gangster Cheese (Edi Gathegi). They is also the conflict with the head of the investigation Capt. Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman), who sees Patrick as an unnecessary outsider who just wants the money. Patrick has to work with an experience detective, Detective Sergeant Remy Bressant (Ed Harris), looking at all lead and using their contacts to find the child.
This film is based on Dennis Lehane novel, who also wrote the novel Mystic River, which was turned into a film directed by Clint Eastwood. I personally think that Gone Baby Gone was a better film then Mystic River was. Here, Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard have written a tort script, telling not just a crime thriller, but also morality tale, and a tale of a rough working-class community. This is a fine writing job.
Ben Affleck shows he is a much better director then he ever was as an actor. He had a steady hand with the camera, having some well crafted scenes, keeping the film tense and having excellent pacing throughout. He makes a good film and should hopefully direct more films in the future.
They is a good cast, Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman are both of course excellent actors and show their talent again in this film. Casey Affleck shows that he has a good future as an actor, and offers a solid performance in the lead role. So does Casey's partner in crime Michelle Monaghan. Amy Ryan performance is also worthy of note.
Other fine feature of the film is the cinematography by John Toll, shooting some lovely looking shots. He is a man who has offered top quality work over the years, like in The Last Samurai, Tropic Thunder and the Thin Red Line.
Overall, a very good film. It is a crime-thriller, but also more then that. 4 out of 5.