It would be no surprise to see Ben Affleck up for another Oscar

Rating: 9/10 (3 December 2007)

It would be no surprise to see Ben Affleck up for another Oscar this year, this time for his directorial debut of Gone Baby Gone. Ben's also back flexing his Academy-award winning writing muscles as he co-writes the story (based on Dennis Lehane's novel) with Aaron Stockard.
Brother Casey Affleck is out of his shadow and is wonderfully credible as Patrick Kenzie, a private investigator in working class Boston, hired along with his girlfriend and fellow PI Angie Gennaro (played by Michelle Monaghan) by the family of a missing four-year-old girl to help find her.
The luminously beautiful Monaghan (of MI3, Made of Honor, The Bourne Supremacy) turns in an understated performance, and the rest of the cast amply provides support. Morgan Freeman as Capt. Jack Doyle is back playing a character he does best (God). Ed Harris as Det. Remy Bressant is gritty and compelling as an officer you either love or hate. Broadway actress Amy Ryan is scarily accurate in her portrayal of the missing girl's druggie mother Helene McCready.
As the story unfolds, lots of twists and fake endings abound, but is nevertheless unraveled well on screen, with enough pockets for personal musing. Can the end ever justify the means? That would just be one of the many "What would YOU have done?" questions that will continue to hound you way after the movie.