still, it seems a little empty

Rating: 5/10 (17 March 2008)

When I saw that "Gone Baby Gone" is from the same author as "Mystic River", I suspected that I was in for something gritty. While "GBG" has the same kick-in-the-gut feeling as "MR", it lacks the grimness and overall seems more like a Hollywood movie.
Ben Affleck (making his big-screen directorial debut) casts his brother Casey as Patrick Kenzie, hired by the Boston police to help find a kidnapped girl. They want Patrick to help because only he can navigate Boston's seedy underbelly. While the movie brings up questions of personal ethics, it mostly feels like the average show-a-bunch-of-nasty-things-but-then-have-a-happy-ending story. Sort of pointless, if I may say so. Not terrible, but the people involved have done much better.
Also starring Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris and Amy Madigan.