Movie review – “Gone Baby Gone” (2009) ***1/2

Impressive directorial debut from Ben Affleck, with a strong, satisfying story (good characters and twists), strong tension, well handled bouts of violence, very good cast. I'm not a fan of Casey Affleck - his voice is so grating and he feels so lightweight - but everyone else is good: Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris (actually he's really good), old friend John Ashton (I wondered if he was still alive), Amy Madigan, Michele Monaghan (surely Jennifer Garner was considered for this?), and most of all, all those wonderful old Boston faces. It goes on a bit too long but is pretty impressive overall.