Rating of
3.5/4
Very thought provoking. Great Story and Acting.
Josh C - wrote on 12/06/07
Didn't expect to like this film so much but as it went on I understood why others liked it so much. The story is simply just a great story. It starts out as a pretty straight forward detective movie, but Casey Affleck's character, Patrick, is a bit unordinary for a private investigator. He has a cocky attitude, hard as nails personality but doesn't come off as anything remotely threatening (could be due to his smaller stature). His character blends well with the plot of a inner-city Boston PI who doesn't really want to get mixed up in matters of life and death but does anyhow because he wants to do the right thing.
**** Spoilers ahead -- This movie will not be good if you know what is below *****
The right thing. That is what this movie is all about. Is it right to kill a child murder? Is it right to plant evidence on a man in order to give his child a better life? Is it wrong to put a little girl into the hands of her cracked out mother if she could have a better life elsewhere? These are all questions that you will ask yourself after seeing this movie.
Patrick has a very tough decision to make in the movie when he unvails the truth about the little girl's disappearance. He can choose to leave her with the abductor, who is an retired ex-police chief that stole her out of love and to get her out of her messed up family. Or he could call the cops and send her back to her mother, who now thinks she is dead, and hope that she can live a good life with her. It is also not just about the little girl, it is about justice and keeping the promises he made.
It has a lot of the same questions that were raised in Boondock Saints. Except this movie doesn't take the questions or answers so lightly. I still don't know what I would do if I was in the detectives or PI's place. I would like to think I would just look the other way and give the little girl a chance in the world. But that is also turning a blind eye to the corruption that got her there. I still don't know the answer and hope I will never have to make that choice.
