Promising, but ruined by clichés and silliness

Rating: Null/10 (7 August 2011)

'Gone Baby Gone' starts off as a tough urban thriller. If its protagonists seem too young and beautiful to be genuine private detectives, and too refined to be pistol-whipping gangsters, there are some original elements in the story. But then, the original tale concludes surprisingly early; and what follows are progressively more unlikely developments including vigilantism, a police-led conspiracy, and the discovery of said conspiracy by the hero. What's worse, the drama shifts from being led by plot, to character (only the lead characters are not so interesting), and then to issues (although the "issue" here is the almost impossible one of what society should do with bad parents; although there is surely no useful solution to the problem if the question is framed in this way). To be frank, the end result is more silly than tough.