Gone Baby Gone

[Jedi Master Carr]

Anybody else seen this? I watched it last night I really liked it. I loved how it made you think especially the ending. I mean would do the same thing as what Patrick did? Did he do the right thing? Right now I agree with what he did and I think he is a pretty remarkable person to be willing to sacrifice his life (I am guessing he will pretty much keep an eye on Amanda from here out) for someone else. Overall a great movie and one of the best I have seen this year.

[Crusader]

Yeah the movie and especially the ending is well done. I walked out of the theater debating for 20 minutes with a bunch of friends on which side we would chose. I think this makes a movie special when you actually take a fictional piece of work as the basis of a debat.
I chose Patrick's side. I was kind of surprised that most of my female friends would have kept the girl where it is...not telling the mother that her daughter is still alive.

[Rutabaga]

I have it in my Netflix queue, so I should be seeing it in the next couple of weeks, hopefully. :)

[Yog]

I think both choices had elements of being right and wrong, which is of course why it's such a dilemma. My decision depends on whether her mother could change or not, and what kind of childhood Amanda would get. In the end, what is best for the child is most important to me. I am not necessarily saying Patrick chose wrong, but it's something I would think long and hard about to make sure it was the right call. I had the impression nothing could change his mind.

While I liked the ending, and it had excellent production qualities overall, I can't say it was one of my favorites this year. Somehow, both characters and plot felt artificial, except for Morgan Freeman. And that's a big deal in a movie of this type. Because of this, the first half feels more like a detective thriller that does not excite me, then it evolves into a drama which could done a lot better to move or inspire. By all means, great movie, but I was not blown away by it.

I'd rate it 4/5, but that is the most I can give it.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I liked it better than that, of course I like detective stories so I really enjoyed the first half. I also liked how they showed Boston's underside. I thought the movie seemed more like Boston than Mystic River (maybe it was just they did the accents better in Gone Baby Gone). Also, for Ben Affleck's first film he did a great job. He could have a real future as a director.

[CMJ]

It was an alright film with a fantastic ending. The first half was sort of a tedious exercise to me(and though Amy Ryan was good, I am sorta blown away with all the critics groups she won) - it started picking up about midway thru. Then the last 15-20 minutes made the film. Somehow the total was less than the sum of its parts for me.

A recommendation mostly based on how it all tied together as well as some quality acting from Ryan, Affleck, and the rest of the ensemble.