Others say...

"Why, Ben, Why?!"
I'll start off by saying that I am a HUGE Dennis Lehane fan. He's not my favorite author (Harlan Coben is), but he's definitely in my top 5. I can't say that I like all of his books, but in my opinion "Gone Baby Gone" is one of his better ones. Usually, I don't like book to movie adaptations, as I tend to think that there's no way that a movie can supersede the book that it's based upon, but there's been a few exceptions that I can think of right off the top of my head. "Shawshank Redemption", for example, which is based on a short novel by Stephen King. "Mystic River" is another one, which is based on the book by the same name, and by no other than Dennis Lehane himself. So I thought to myself, it can't be all that bad. Boy, was I wrong. Ben Affleck, and whoever put him in charge, and behind the camera, should be fired and banned from having anything to do with movie making industry ever again. While we are at it, ban Casey, and all the other Affleck's, if there are any, too. But actually, it wasn't Ben Affleck's directorial debut that I have complaints about (honestly, I was quite impressed with it), but rather his choice of actors (I assume that he played a big part in casting). Now let me explain what exactly I mean by that. In my book, Ben Affleck is THE WORST actor of all time. PERIOD. I don't think the word "actor" can be even applied in the same sentence with Ben Affleck. I'm a movie buff, and will watch pretty much anything. However, I try to avoid movies with Ben Affleck for the reason mentioned above; Paul Walker (SECOND WORST actor ever... "Running Scared" is an exception - I enjoyed that movie enormously, and can only wonder how much better it could be without Paul Walker in it); and ... yes, Casey Affleck, who is the THIRD WORST actor, partially because of his VERY annoying voice, but mostly because of the fact that he simply can't act. Anyway... Back to the movie, and why I hated it so much. But you've probably already guessed it - THE CHARACTERS killed it. Casey Affleck's portrayal of Patrick Kenzie was, for the lack of a better word, HORRIFIC. Arnold Schwarzenegger would've done a better job. Is Casey the only one to blame? Unfortunately, not. His "better" half, as someone referred to her in the movie, or the character of Angela Gennaro, wasn't much better also. That's not how I imagined those two when I read the books. They lacked emotion; they lacked chemistry; they lacked anything else that you can possibly think of. And what about Bubba?! He's supposed to be the meanest, the toughest person to walk the face of this planet. Loyal to his friends, but ruthless to his enemies. So who was the whiny, whimpy fatso that played him? Hey, Ben, have you read the book?! Unbelievable... The girl's mother, and her uncle were overplaying a bit. Morgan Freeman was totally underused. I think the only bright spot in the movie was Ed Harris, who almost nailed his part. And the only reason I say "almost" is because he was surrounded by a bunch of losers. So to summarize, if you haven't read the book, and don't mind that pathetic excuse of an actor Casey Affleck, then there is a chance that you might enjoy this movie (although I would still recommend to just pick up a copy of a book, and read it). Otherwise, I suggest to stay as far away from it as possible. You've been warned...

"Good story line, too many fowl words"
I liked the story of this movie and I thought the acting was good, however, the overuse of the "f" word detracted from it. If someone cannot be more creative with words than that, something is wrong. And if people really talk like this then they need an education. Using the "f" word to describe EVERYTHING shows a lack of creativity. The problem is in this day and age most movies are full of profanity. Using such language should not become mainstream or the norm. Actors, writers, directors, etc. should be ashamed of themselves!

"Gone Baby Gone"
The movie sucks. How could a person living in this day and age not see the future for this little girl. He should have had some balls, and left her with the Captain and his wife.

"buy the book"
Movie is very good.
But the book is much, much better.
Casey Affleck and Michelle Monoghan ressemble Lehane's characters very well.
But Casey's voice!!!!!
It becomes irritant in the end hearing his high tone.
Did the guy had an accident in his youth????
Sorry, Ben and my sympathies, Casey.....

"Don't Read the Book First"
Let's get one thing out of the way first: if profanity in movies bothers you, don't watch this one. According to the director's commentary, there are over 200 swear words in the movie, to the point where it's almost a distraction early on. I'm not sure what the point of that was, since the book doesn't have nearly that many, and books don't have to go before rating boards. This is definitely not one for the whole family to watch.

Which brings me to my main problem with the movie: I've read the book. It's the fourth book in a series by Dennis Lehane, the author of Mystic River. The five books follow private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, and they're some of my favorite suspense/mystery novels. Not many authors can tell stories like these while simultaneously exploring their characters to the depth that Lehane does. One who does a similar job is Stephen R. Donaldson, but that's another review.

I know it's not fair to blame a movie for not having everything the book has, or for being less complex, so I'm trying not to do that. I know if you tried to faithfully reproduce these books on film, you'd need several hours (which is why I think most novels should be TV miniseries, not feature films). But some things about the characters still bothered me.

Casey Affleck, who plays Patrick, is just too young and pretty. In the books, Patrick is regularly beaten up or shot. He's 35-40 years old, and feeling the aches and pains of a life with too many hard knocks. (Lehane even said he took a break from writing about Patrick and Angie when he looked back at the books and saw how much of a beating he'd been giving them, and decided they deserved a break.) Affleck does a good acting job, but it's a different character; I don't think he ever even gets a split lip.

Angela is even worse. In the books, although we see the story through Patrick's eyes, he and Angela are very much equal partners, and she's saved his bacon as often as the reverse. Here, although Michelle Monaghan looks pretty much exactly like Angie looked in my head, she's practically a mouse except for a couple scenes. She mostly just tails along with Patrick, and when they have their big disagreement at the end, it comes out of nowhere. (Starting with the fourth book really hurts here, because there's no history to explain where they're coming from.) Looking at the reviews, some people didn't even know if she was Patrick's wife, assistant, or what. That character was a major disappointment in the way it was written.

Almost as disappointing is Bubba. Lehane describes him as "six feet four inches, 235 pounds of raw adrenaline and disassociated anger. And he'd shoot anyone who blinked at [Patrick] the wrong way." Movie Bubba is a fat kid who shows some menace, but nowhere near the barely controlled mayhem of the real Bubba. He's a fairly standard Hollywood drug dealer, and we never get any indication of the way he feels about Patrick and Angie. No time for that, I suppose.

So if you want a great story, with deeply drawn characters who go through the wringer, get the books, starting with A Drink Before the War. Having said that, the movie is pretty good in its own right. The crime plot is scaled way back, and isn't any easier to understand for being simpler, but it's still suspenseful and entertaining. The way it was shot in Boston with a lot of locals as extras gives it a "real" feel that serves the story well. I'm not usually a person who notices direction unless it's bad, but I think Ben Affleck did a good job here.

I like Casey's voice-overs; his voice matches the character better than his looks. Amy Ryan is good as the mother of the kidnapped girl, although I was surprised to see she was nominated for an Oscar for mostly acting stoned and crying a lot. Her character is more likable here than in the book, but she's still easy to loathe, which is critical.

The real star might be Ed Harris, who plays his character to the hilt. He's electrifying every time he's on screen. It's too bad that some of the plot simplification required scaling back his character, so his motivation ends up being much simpler than it was originally, but it's still a great performance. Come to think of it, I don't know if I've ever seen a bad performance from him.

I'm giving it three stars, for people who can take the profanity. It might deserve more than that, but it's hard for me to see past how much better it could have been, if they'd been more faithful in reproducing the characters, especially Angie and Bubba. Maybe someday someone will do the series right, starting at the beginning and using TV to accommodate the full stories. Until then, this is a serviceable take on it.