Hey,
Finally saw Gone, Baby, Gone and while I think Ben Affleck
did a really good job of putting together a good cast and a
nice look and feel to the film, I realized at the end of the
film why I had stopped reading Dennis Lehane's PI
series.
That may be a complement of sorts to Affleck in that he was
true to the material (or so it seemed as this was the one
book in the series that I didn't read). And the film plays
true to the take on race and class in Lehane's Boston. What
is lacking in the film is what is lacking in the original
work: Characters and story.
Angie Gennaro always bothered me as a character because more
than anything she was a plot device. First as the
unattainable beautiful woman that needs to be saved and
Patrick Kenzie just can't seem to do it and it adds that
maudlin streak so many PIs rely on these days. The only
reason Angie is in this movie is so that she can leave
Patrick at the end. There is nothing else for her to do.
She's more a clinging girlfriend than a partner. While I
liked that Ben Affleck stripped Patrick of every PI movie
cliche, that process didn't leave the actor with much to work
with. That void needed to be filled.
So, if the characters aren't going to be the center of the
film, the story better be and I just didn't buy this yarn at
all. There is no way that I believe the Morgan Freeman
character would steal someone's child after he had a child
taken from him. Yes, there are people like that. But the film
failed to create the necessary groundwork to make it
credible. The same is true of the Ed Harris character. That
barroom holdup scene was just ridiculous. He goes in there to
kill someone and gets all chatty and then gets shot. I just
didn't buy it. There really wasn't all that much at stake to
justify him taking that chance. The plot just seemed so
contrived -- with that convoluted scene at the quarry -- and
it's too bad since the film had a lot going for it.
I came away from this flick hoping Ben Afflick continues to
direct but the last thing this film accomplished was to get
me to read Lehane's PI series again.
Looking forward to No Country For Old Men.
William
Essays and Ramblings
<http://www.williamahearn.com>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 24 Dec 2007 EST