Gone Baby Gone - Mystery Thriller Novel by Dennis Lehane | Crime Fiction, Detective Story | Perfect for Book Clubs & Suspense Lovers" （如果"Gone Baby Gone"是其他类型商品，请提供更多信息以便优化）

Casey Affleck is having a great year in the movies, what with his Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" and his stellar performance in "Gone Baby Gone." I think Affleck would have been a shoe-in for the Oscar for the former role (it really is the lead part in the film, much more so than Brad Pitt's Jesse James), if he were not up against Javier Bardem's performance in "No Country for Old Men," but arguable what he does in the latter film is of more importance for his career because two points define a line segment. Casey Affleck can do more than broadly drawn character comedy and here is the proof.It does not take long watching "Gone Baby Gone" to be reminded of "Mystic River," another crime thriller set in Boston, which is not surprising since both novels were written by Dennis Lehane. The key difference is that "Gone Baby Gone" is the fourth of (to date) five novels by Lehane about the private investigator team of Patrick Kenzie (Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan). Their area of specialization is tracking down missing people, which is to say deadbeat dads and the like. So when they are approached by Bea McCready (Amy Madigan) and her husband Lionel (Titus Welliver), about helping in the investigation regarding their missing niece, Amanda, the two PIs feel they are in over their head. But a little girl from the neighborhood is missing, and they want to do what they can to help. After all, Bea thinks a couple of locals can get do a better job of digging around Dorchester for answers. It does not take long for them to find out this is not going to be an easy case.This is especially true because Amanda's mother, Helene McCready (the Oscar nominated Amy Ryan), turns out to have been a pathetic figure long before her daughter disappeared. When Kenzie and Gennaro find out what her particular package of problems happens to be, they start looking at the case in a whole new light, trying to make sense of it all in time to save the little girl. No more need be said about the plot and if this is not enough to persuade you to check out the film then notice that the supporting cast includes Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, and John Ashton. Anytime Freeman or Harris make a movie I am inclined to check it out when it is released on DVD, so having both of them in the film is a really good sign that this one might be something special.I really liked this movie (a lot more than last year's Best Picture winner "The Departed"), although I wonder if I had an advantage during the opening act because I already knew that Casey Affleck act having seen his other big movie of 2008. If you keep thinking about the bratty kid from "Good Will Hunting" and lesser fare then it might take you a while to accept Affleck carrying the heavy load, although Monaghan, his character's "better half," is providing ample support along the way. Because older brother Ben both directed the film and co-wrote the script with Aaron Stockard, there is a tendency to think that the first-time director is looking out for his little brother. But to be fair, this movie works because the Afflecks have a high regard for the Boston in which they grew up, and they are just being true to their neighborhood. You do not need to listen to the commentary track by the director and his co-writer to know this is the case, because there is ample evidence on the screen. I suppose there is no particular motivations for the Afflecks to do another one of novels in this series for the big screen, but it would be nice given how well they did on this one.