Yep, Ben Affleck may have found his calling...never liked him as an actor. His brother however is an awesome actor, in this movie and especially in Jesse James etc.
ok, great movie. i kind of figured the twist halfway through, but the ending...wow. i kept saying to myself what the hell would i have done. i still can't make up my mind. oh yea, i also said to myself, "damn, ben affleck made this movie?"
Just finished watching it right now, too. Very good flick- compelling story, and the ending does make you think.
I agreed with what he did. Spoiler The situation sucked but I don't think any one person has the right to take a child away from someone else because they believe it was owed to them. If you wanted the kid in a better environment... call Social Services and maybe try adoption at a later date. What the Captain did was illegal and selfish, although he made a very convincing case otherwise.
damn I clicked your spoiler and it actually was a spoiler rather than a hottie picture. hmm...i wonder if we could talk Clutch into a NSFW tag that works the same as the SPOILER tag. Just so we know by the button label whether something really is a spoiler that I don't want to see just yet vs a picture of hotties that I want to see.
Spoiler below...but movie has been out long enough for you to see it so...no spoiler tags. I thought the end was kind of silly personally. I'm sure that could happen but I have a hard time buying that his girl left him over it...especially since it was their business to re-unite missing children with family. Yea...she didn't agree with the decision and I guess decided that...based on his decision to sink Freeman and re-unite the girl with her aloof mother...she didn't want to be with Affleck because they didn't share the same sentiment on how to handle this. Never mind that what Freeman did was completely illegal and would never fly if it was out in the open. I just don't think she would have left him in reality. Then, the movie seems to indicate that Affleck is the surrogate daddy for the girl and he has to live with the consequences of supposedly "doing the right thing (legally but maybe not morally)". Mom's desire to have her daughter back was more possessive than wanting...granted. But, if the situation is that bad, then social services needs to be involved to make it right in the future. This idea that it was all on Affleck and he would suffer the consequences of what Freeman did and always be wondering if he did the right thing. Then, to put it on himself to stick around and see this child through because the mother was clearly still not getting what it was to be a mother. The truth is...it is all on the mother. The story almost made it Affleck's problem and now he is almost "stuck" all alone...almost in limbo...because of his decision. I think his girl would have seen why he did what he did and stuck by him. And, if not, then she didn't really love him enough to make it work. So, good riddance. Maybe she thought the business of reuniting missing children with family would always end up as a "happily ever after" scenario when that will not always be the case. She should have just changed jobs then. Or, else, we have end up with a society of people trying to do the right thing by children by kidnapping them and raising them right...which is absurd.
a couple of nitpicks: Spoiler Surfguy touched on one of them in his spoiler above about what Freeman did. really? how did he expect to get away with it anyways? the other is about Affleck's character and the shooting of the child molestor in the house? why are the cops just letting him walk? shouldn't he be arrested for murder?
Spoiler Freeman expected to get away with it for the same reason Casey Affleck got away with murdering the child molestor. Everyone who was involved seemed to think taking the law into their own hands was the right course of action. Remember when Ed Harris told Affleck how he planted evidence? I'm sure they just said in the Police Report that the pedo had a weapon and had to be shot. I'm sure it happens all the time. There isn't a cop in the precinct who is going to raise ethical questions about how the situation was handled when an 8 year boy's mutilated body is sitting in a bathtub. The murder weighed down on Affleck though (i.e. the cops congratulating him at the funeral for killing the pedo) and I believe that is one of the reasons he chose to do the right thing at the end. Its a tough pill to swallow thats for sure. That child molestor got half of what he deserved, but the justice system is in place for a reason.
That movie was so unsettling. I agree that it's kind of absurd that Angie left Patrick after he made the decision to call the cops, but I could see myself getting pretty angry if I was in her situation. Maybe it's just cause I'm a female and emotional, but the thought of Amanda getting to live in a big house with a loving family made me happy. The very end was depressing. The scene in the house with the ****** crackheads and the child molester gave me a couple nightmares.
Bump. Just saw this cause of all the props from this board. I loved this movie and I don't even like movies.
The fact that I gotta sit still, concentrate and focus for about 2 hours? Time is money. I could name 50 million things I'd rather do with 2 hours than watch a movie. Gone baby gone was one of few rare exceptions.
Just saw the movie. Very good. Very impressed with Affleck's direction. Spoiler I don't think it was unrealistic for Angie to leave Patrick. This was a fundamental moral issue for her. In Angie's mind sending the girl back to her mother was dooming her. The one false not in the movie was Remy faking the robbery on the bar to kill Patrick, Angie, and the uncle. It didn't make sense that someone like Remy would kill three innocent people like that, even if thought he was protecting the girl.
Thanx everyone on this board for suggesting this movie. Just viewed it, it was quite good. Tough decision to make, able to look 'wrong' in the face and make the right decision. Spoiler there were no playstations in 1995! [/spoiler
I would not have done it. I spent half the movie witnessing what a lowlife the mother is, and all I have is a duty to hope that the system corrects itself? Plus, half of Patrick's connections are shady, so it isn't like he's immune to not looking the other way. I can kind of understand that he grew up there and he turned out alright, so he doesn't buy the assumption that a richer life is a better life. Or maybe he's one deeply religious cat. But the ethics behind it aren't clear. Right and wrong isn't black or white. I feel bad for Ed Harris's character. His partner received a funeral with full honors. Harris's funeral was less distinguished because he tried to keep a secret he thought was right. (that bar robbery scene, wtf??). As for the ending, maybe it's "all on Patrick" because it's in his character to see it through. Maybe he thinks Morgan Freeman's words will haunt him because he really doesn't know how things will turn out. It's a pretty good movie. I would not like to visit that part of Boston. Maybe that affects my opinions..
