Okay, my mind was just blown. BLOWN. Even more blown than when I first read the poster outside of Mr. Cecere's room that says that the mirror image of 3.14 is Pie. I just watched "Gone Baby Gone" with my mom during "Friday Night Movie Night With Mom" and... whoa. I have been wanting to see this movie for a while, and I just watched it and... whoa. SPOILER ALERT: If you have not seen this movie and want to, then DO NOT continue reading this blog. If you don't care about seeing the movie (which I advise that you do), then proceed. That is the most screwed up situation, crime, whatever you want to call it. SCREWED UP. I thought that the movie would have some kind of ending with closure for the family, like most movies do: them finding the girl's body or finding her alive somewhere. But I did not expect the Police Chief to be in on it! Are you kidding me?!?! But that makes sense, seeing as how his daughter was murdered... He wanted a child so badly, to fill the empty whole in his heart from the loss of his daughter, and when the perfect situation arose, (him wanting a daughter, a little girl needing a good home) he took it.
Also, I felt that there were pros and cons to what Patrick did in the end, and I understand why he did what he did. I understand that Amanda should be returned to her mother, where she belongs and I understood his whole speech to Morgan Freeman about the girl coming to him years later and saying, "why did you leave me with my kidnappers?" but I think that I would have left Amanda with Morgan Freeman. She would have had a better life with people who really loved her. Now, I know that her mother did love her, but Morgan Freeman would have REALLY loved her and ensured that she had a good future, whereas, living with her mother, that wasn't a promise.
Apart from the f-bombs being dropped every five seconds, this movie was pretty good. Using Kirky's elements of great films, I would say that this is a 3 out of 4: it hits 3 out of the 4 elements on the list. It failed to be unique. Yes, it was unique in its really twisted plot, but there are a ton of twisted crime movies out nowadays. This movie was incredibly layered and highly crafted, it definitely transported me (unlike the recent Twilight movie), and this movie has a weighty theme that most people can probably relate to. That is that people do what they think is right in the moment, not thinking about the consequences. Lionel, Remy and Doyle (Morgan Freeman) did what they thought was right for Amanda, not thinking about the effects it would have on those around them. I do admit though, I understand why they did what they did. This movie and its theme made me realize to always think about the consequences of something wrong that you do, even if you do it for a moral reason.
