Saturday, March 8, 2008

The Missing: Gone Baby Gone

A heavily violent and disturbing abduction pic that is thought-provoking. Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan play Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennero, two private investigators hired to get a kidnapped girl named Amanda back to her foulmouthed, drug abusing mother (Amy Ryan). Morgan Freeman co-stars as the Boston Police Department head, and Ed Harris co-stars as Remy Bressant, a detective. The twists are relatively easy to figure out, but I won't spoil the biggest one. This movie's ending is mind-blowing and thought-provoking. It's extremely hard to decide what's right and wrong. This movie is mesmerizing, and a great first effort from Ben Affleck. The script sizzles and is funny in some moments. But this movie is dead serious. It hits its target right where it needs to, hitting on one of the biggest topics of all: is the law more right than the moral? What is "right" and what is right? That's the question that this movie pushes into the minds of all viewers, and does well. A-

6 comments:

Pete Duval said...

I think the ending of this movie dramatizes the epigraph to Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure (a passage from the apostle Paul): "The letter killeth." Casey Affleck's character does the right thing in the eyes of the law--that is, he follows its letter. In a sense he sacrifices the current and future wellbeing of one person for the sake of a principle--a literal reading of the law. The film's ending strongly implies that he's made the morally wrong choice.

Nick Duval said...

It is not right to abduct someone even though the person being abducted might have a better life with you. Patrick Kenzie, in my opinion made the right decision, because his job was to return the girl to the mother, not to lie about it.

Pete Duval said...

Wait. His job is to find the girl. But the assumption behind his being hired to do so is the greater good of the child. Her welfare is the real issue. Remember that the mother didn't hire Kenzie; the aunt did. Why did she do this? To "rescue" the child from harm. So isn't Kenzie simply following through with the assumed goal of his being hired in the first place?

Pete Duval said...

Sorry. Let me clarify. What I meant to argue is that if Kenzie kept quiet it could be argued that he was honoring the intentions of the people that hired him--to "rescue" Amanda.

Nick Duval said...

The aunt is worried about the kid, yes, but not in the way you say. She wants the kid to be returned. She is simply worried about the abduction. She may think Amanda's mom is a bad mom, but would not interfere. Unless she's in on Lionel's scheme...

Nick Duval said...

She would have her mom worried. If she found out, he would be in big trouble, and Amanda would do what he wanted, except with more trouble.