Gone Baby Gone is a 2007 mystery about two detectives who investigate a little girl’s kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally.
The first time most of us got our eyes on Michelle Monaghan was probably in the 2005 action comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang starring Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer. She’d already had some bit parts in other films, including The Bourne Supremacy, but it was in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang where she really made her first big impression. She’s like this electric jolt. I know I immediately wanted to see more of her, and fortunately, Hollywood appeased, casting her in a slew of noteworthy titles that have since made her one of the most respected of her generation.
Let’s talk about her co-starring role in director Ben Affleck‘s 2007 crime thriller Gone Baby Gone, based on the book by Dennis Lehane. This was Affleck’s directorial debut, earning him plenty of critical acclaim and justifiably kicking off his new career behind the camera. It also earned supporting star Amy Ryan an Academy Award nomination and put Affleck’s younger brother Casey Affleck in the spotlight as a leading man contender. But we’re not here to talk about them.
Monaghan plays Angie Gennaro, the girlfriend and partner of Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck), Boston private investigators, who, like many in the city, become enraptured with the highly-televised case of a kidnapped little girl named Amanda (Madeline O’Brien), whose parents, especially her mother Helene (Ryan) make a very public plea for her release. Patrick and Angie are not fans of the local cops, who they feel are doing little to truly protect the city. Meanwhile, a relative of the missing child’s family (played by Amy Madigan) hires the pair to find Amanda.
It’s a slippery slope that leads Patrick and Angie into drug dealers and soon after, the cops themselves as they team up with two police detectives (John Ashton and Ed Harris), guided by Captain Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman), a bitter man with his own dark history. But things of course are not always as they seem and the couple are swallowed into a dark abyss where there can be no happy ending.
The film is very well-directed and superbly-acted with the entire cast turning Gone Baby Gone into a parable of sorts with gritty, authentic turns that make the movie both hard to watch for its subject but undeniably compelling just the same. The point in saying this is that Monaghan is cast among a number of heavy-hitters, easy perhaps to be left to the shadows, yet she holds her own, even as she is often written to be a sideline voice. But what a voice.
I won’t spoil the complications of the film’s clever plot, which is genuinely twisted and full of misdirection that makes the ending well-earned. Monaghan plays a crucial role in that ending in that she is something of great value that can be lost, one of the larger takeaways of the film itself, even if it’s in reach all the while. Notice how Angie as a character is always somewhat outside the thinking of the men she deals with, her involvement slightly different as a woman. A moment at a quarry, where she takes action the others don’t is a clear symbolic gesture of that difference, committing herself to a desperate effort that leaves her deeply scarred.
Monaghan doesn’t really have a lot of screen time in comparison with Casey, she more peripheral to his story, but her presence is nonetheless impactful as Angie is torn apart by the consequences of Patrick’s choices. I like how Monaghan feels so grounded in the role, the way she drifts through small scenes as if she’s been part of it long before it started and will be well after it’s over. That might not seem all that worth mentioning, but once you see how well she fills these moments, you’ll appreciate her work all the more. It’s really good.
Gone Baby Gone is a little powderkeg of a movie with some real surprises packed into its shady corners. If you’ve not seen it, don’t hesitate, especially if you’re a fan of tough to solve mysteries. There’s not a bad performance in the movie but keep your eye on Monaghan. She’s every reason enough to watch.