Gone Baby Gone

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Certainly, there is no lack of crime thrillers around; what there's a lack of is good crime thrillers. Despite a somewhat fragmented plot line and an ending that stretches credibility, count "Gone Baby Gone" among the better crime thrillers of 2007.

The story is, at first, fairly straightforward. Somebody has apparently kidnapped a four-year-old girl from her mother's Boston apartment, the police are getting nowhere trying to find her, and the child's uncle hires a pair of private detectives--a young man and his girlfriend associate--to investigate the case. As the detectives delve into the matter, they encounter any number of sinister characters and dark turns, and, more important, they find themselves facing an unexpected moral decision that threatens to tear them apart.

Ben Affleck co-wrote the screenplay (with Aaron Stockard, from a novel by Dennis Lehane) and directed the film, his first such feature-length effort. It is an auspicious directorial debut for the actor-writer-director, as he combines tense drama, local color, and grittily realistic characters in a movie that relies more on thought and dialogue than on overt action to tell its story. To give you some idea of the movie's tone, author Dennis Lehane also wrote "Mystic River," a movie to which this one owes a strong debt.

But Ben isn't the only Affleck involved with the production. Younger brother Casey Affleck stars as Patrick Kenzie, the detective whom the relatives hire to look for the kidnapped child. Casey is quite effective in the part, rounding out a year that saw him in three strong roles: in this film, in "The Assassination of Jesse James," and in "Ocean's Thirteen." It looks to have been Casey's breakout year, and one looks forward to seeing more good things from him.

Patrick Kenzie and his associate, Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan), specialize in missing persons, and they appear to be reasonably successful, largely because Patrick grew up in Boston's tougher neighborhoods and knows the people there, knows who to talk to who wouldn't necessarily talk to the police. Even though Patrick looks younger than his thirty-one years, he's street smart, exacting, and uncompromising. But this time, he and Angie have run into harder problem than they've ever encountered. Although all of Boston appears to be up in arms about the little girl's disappearance, nobody seems to want to talk about it.

The supporting cast is equally impressive. Morgan Freeman, always a reliable scene stealer, plays Capt. Jack Doyle, the police captain who heads the city's unit for solving crimes against children. As usual, Freeman's character is the solid voice of reason among many fractured, fractious outpourings of discontent. Doyle does not welcome outside help, though, and only reluctantly goes along with the PI's.

Then there are Ed Harris and John Ashton as Sgt. Det. Remy Bressant and his partner Nick, both of whom are longtime Boston police detectives and the men directly involved in investigating the case. They don't welcome outside help, either, but they, too, reluctantly accept Kenzie and Gennaro's assistance. OK, now be honest: Have you ever seen Ed Harris in a bad role? He's always so serious, so earnest, and he always brings such a gravitas to a part and to a movie that you can't help appreciate his presence.

Add in Amy Ryan as the aggrieved mother of the missing child, Titus Welliver as the uncle who hires the outside help, plus various other fine actors, and you get an ensemble cast that makes the movie worth watching if no other reason than its excellent performances. Fortunately, however, that's not all the movie's got to offer, as the director goes out on location to find the neighborhoods and local citizens that bring the picture to life. The result is a more gripping movie than you might imagine.

Nevertheless, this is not to say the movie is without fault, and the three shortcomings I'll describe could be enough to tarnish everything else of value, depending on your tolerance for such things. First, the plot itself is more than a little splintered. The story starts and ends, starts again and ends, and then starts yet again. There are at least three false endings in the movie that may have you tearing your hair out with frustration.

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