Good baby good?... No baby no!

Rating: 1/10 (18 August 2008)

I was really made restless by this movie because of the overwhelming reviews it got from "trusted" reviewers here. I searched through highs and lows just to get hold of a copy of this film, and when i finally had it, i didn't find it coming that i will be haunted again by restless nights why i paid so much for such a lousy film.
I am not trying to disparage the novel or whatever. No, it is not the story, it is everything about the film that sucks (pardon me for my use of such word but it is the only one that I can think of right now to describe how the film felt for me).
I am really quite disappointed and appalled by the ratings this movie got from the reviewers. Let me explain on the following points one by one.
First, they said Casey Affleck's acting in this movie has far surpassed his feat in Jesse James. this is absolutely not true. Jesse James (as Robert ford) is still Casey's best and unforgettable performance. other jurors must have agreed with me that was why they chose him as the best supporting actor. there is still no film where he acted better. Casey's performance in gone baby gone is not in any way in the league of great actings; his brother Ben just couldn't bring out the best from him. he just can't.
Second, from the reviews, it said that Ben Affleck did an amazing job in his directorial debut. I hope Ben does not read the reviews here because they might get into his head and make him believe he really did a great job. For Christ's sake, I thought i was watching 24 or CSI or Prison Break. Yes, Ben affleck was copying the styles of the TV series, only that his film turned out to be a cheap copycat. If Ben affleck could not afford to go to school to get some directing lessons, or at least the how-to-point-your-camera 101 basics for complete dummies, he should watch great movies to learn how they are made.
what was really annoying was that Ben affleck does not know how to use camera perspectives. he was always so focused on the faces of the characters that it seemed they were always shooting in a cramped, tight, tiny rooms where there are no spaces to move about, even a step. there were very few scenes where the camera captured a panorama, most of them ugly ones. 90% of the time you could see Casey's, or other character's faces, or should i say, noses.
acting was really bad. Ben affleck made their actings strangely stressed or tensed. not only that, the dialogs were so clichéd and predictable and what they did to make up for such lousy dialogs was to pepper, no, drench them with expletives. i might have a slight idea that Ben wanted this film to make it to the Guinness book of world records as the film with the most number of "f.u.c.k" having spoken.
this movie is not worth buying the DVD. it surely is a waste just like what Ben affleck made out of the great actors he cast. i just couldn't calculate how agonizing it was to finish the movie because i wanted to get something worth out of the not-so-affordable price of this lousy title.