Starring Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall and Jon Hamm
Directed By Ben Affleck
Running Time: 2 hrs 3 mins
Gone Baby Gone was a flick that upon the first viewing, It thought was a very solid first film from new director Ben Affleck. However, the film stuck with me. Affleck didn't just want to tell a missing person's mystery. He wanted to go deeper than than just an episode of Without a Trace. The story has many layers and asks many difficult questions about the rights and wrongs about child care. He trusted the story enough to focus more on the characters and the environment the story was being told in. This added a rough authenticity to the story that made it one of the more compelling film mysteries that gets better with each viewing.
With his second feature "The Town" he does this again. And it works. Just not as well. The story he is telling is more of an old fashioned Bank robbery film and isn't as deep as his first feature. Gone Baby Gone used it's setting and the community in that setting to really flesh out the suspense and add another thick layer to it's premise. The Town does that with the community of Charlestown but this film is more character driven than Gone Baby Gone is and so sometimes what works in Gone Baby Gone doesn't quite work as well as in the Town.
That being said, This is one hell of a good film. It's a solid film that's very tense and gets you involved from the very beginning. The movie never slows down and film is very well executed that even some of the cliches this film has feel fresh. Every performance is terrific. Affleck gives one of his best performances to date. I really enjoyed him in this. Jeremy Renner takes a role we've seen in almost every crime film, the troubled hot-headed childhood friend and adds a something that's new. Something is so unstable about him but it never feels over the top. Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall and Blake Lively also deliver top-notch performances that add so much to the story.
The film looks beautiful and is shot with gripping detail. The film is a very effective thriller that works almost on every level. The action is tense and very well executed.
What I liked about Affleck is that he cares deeply about the story he is telling. He tackles everything with exquisite care but never pushes. He knows what works and how to execute the story to it's best advantage. Maybe that's why he does film's that take place in his hometown Boston. He doesn't just know it, he loves it. He knows it's strengths and knows it's flaws. And that's what makes this film work. It's not the best film of the year but it's not trying to be. It's a crime-thriller that is handled by a pro who knows how to tell a story. Is it as deep as it wants to be? No. But yet again. It doesn't need to be. The script was good but it did fall into some traps. I think maybe with a stronger script this could of been one of the best films of the year but that really doesn't matter. This is a film i want to revisit and had a blast watching, and in the end that's what matters.
