Gone Baby Gone (Blu-ray + DVD-Video)

 

Picture: B/C+     Sound: B+/C+     Extras: C     Film: C

 

 

I was not a fan of Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River, despite all of its acclaim.  I never read the Dennis Lehane novel and was less encouraged to do so.  Still, the film was respectable and in order to become more respectable, actor Ben Affleck decided to go behind the camera as director and make Gone Baby Gone from another one of Lehane’s books.  He even co-wrote the adaptation with Aaron Stockard and cast his also-talented younger brother Casey as the protagonist.  The story even involved another missing child.

 

Unfortunately, it also does not work and is a big disappointment.  Affleck is a good guy from the Boston neighborhood who gets involved with a case of a missing child when everyone seems stumped about her disappearance.  Along with the support of his girlfriend (Michelle Monaghan) goes around to find out what happened before she was lost.  The first half of the film is trying to be a police procedural with some edge and can be interesting, but when that part ends mid-way, everything becomes shockingly predictable and silly.  Some of the overdramatic dialogue in that first half should have been a warning.

 

The big problem is that the writers, all the way to Lehane apparently, are no good at laying out a good mystery and if you have seen a few of the old Columbo shows from the 1970s, you’ll too will feel the tile refers to how memorable the film is not.  Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris are also here, nearly overacting, but when all is said and done, Ben Affleck still has issues as an artist that keeps sabotaging everything he tries to do.  Before he attempts to act, direct, write or otherwise again, he needs to address these, or watch his career continue to go into unnecessary decline.

 

Any boost from this project will be very temporary.

 

 

The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image has a slightly dreary look throughout and on purpose to match the dark story, but it never looks phony, if softer than it should.  This is a larger problem on the standard definition DVD where detail and depth are a problem, not able to cut delivering Director of Photography John Toll’s (A.S.C.) work.  Still, his work helps make this more convincing than the script.  The PCM 24/48 5.1 mix is far better than the Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks in either format, bringing out the dialogue, performances and decent Harry Gregson-Williams score with a richness and even warmth lacking in the Dolby.

 

Extras on both format releases are the same, including an extended ending that made little difference, two featurettes on the making of the film, deleted scenes with optional commentary by Ben Affleck and his co-writer Stockard, who also recorded a feature-length audio commentary track.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo