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Set
in Affleck's home town of Boston, the story begins with the
disappearance of a four year-old girl.
Local P.I. Patrick (played by
Affleck's brother Casey) is asked to take on the case by the missing
girl's aunt (Amy Madigan), and while it's a little out of his league he
steps up to bat, receiving grudging help from local law enforcement
(including Morgan Freeman as the local chief and Ed Harris as one of
the detectives).
But it doesn't take long for the case to take some
dark turns, and considering that the missing girl's mum (Amy Ryan) is
probably the last person you'd want to be in charge of a kid it's
hardly surprising that this film's morality is hardly black and white.
Affleck
clearly knows the physical territory and his storytelling skills are in
pretty good shape, but it's the many excellent performances that make
this such a compelling (if bleak) film to watch.
Casey Affleck, who was excellent in last year's The Assassination of Jesse James
is just as good here, never letting us get fully comfortable with a
character lesser films would leave as a simple audience stand-in.
Great crime films are also explorations of human nature (even if only
on the level of "why do people steal?"); thoughtful and
thought-provoking while still managing to deliver plenty of crime
thrills and chills.
Affleck has made a truly great crime film here.
DVD EXTRAS with Sean Lynch
Some excellent extras have been included
here, which is great to see.
Affleck
is always entertaining to watch and listen to (no matter how poor some
of his films as an actor have been - he's always engaging), which is
why "Going Home: Behind the Scenes with Ben Affleck" is a rather
insightful extra which is well worth checking out.
There are
a few other featurrettes (mostly fluff, but A-List Cast fluff, so it's
forgiveable) as well as Deleted Scenes and a directors commentary.
Well worth checking out is the Alternate Ending, which for movie nerds,
is the equivalent of the Holy Grail!
Conclusion:
Movie 80% Extras: 70%
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