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Tuesday, May 15, 2012

[4.75/10] Gone (2012)


Gone (2012)

Brief review: "Gone" is Brazilian director Heitor Dhalia's first English language film in his career, but sadly, it falls short, despite its talented cast and decent direction. Maybe if it was made 10 years ago, "Gone" would have been a lot more successful, but for a 2012 movie, it feels dated, unoriginal and at times extremely copycat-ish. Although it's still watchable and mildly engaging, and keeps you wondering the whole time whether the female protagonist has been abducted for real or she's just being paranoid, this 'kidnapping' thriller never gets particularly tense, thrilling or suspenseful, and Allison Burnett's script is contrived to the point of being annoying. On a positive note, the twist in the end is pretty decent and it saves the film from being an absolute disaster. Dhalia's direction lacks creativity and is pretty by-the-numbers, but at the same time, it doesn't have any major flaws about it. The almost monochromic cinematography has some style about it, and creates a somewhat bleak atmosphere, but it also give a rather moody feel to the visuals.. maybe too moody. Considering the weak script she has to work with, the fascinating Amanda Seyfried does a pretty solid job as the bold and fearless Jill determined to find her missing sister and face the abductor, who had kidnapped her too two years ago, but her character's actions are too daring and keen to be realistic and believable enough.

Overall summary: Seyfried does her best with the given material and the stylish photography captures the grim tone of the story, but "Gone" is a soulless and suspense-free thriller that tries hard to be clever, but instead it feels like a rip-off that is very soon to be forgotten.

14 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

In other words, very vanilla.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Alex, exactly.

Maurice Mitchell said...

Amanda Seyfried usually does a "pretty solid job." It must have been an awful script.

Alex Jowski said...

I remember seeing trailers for this not too long ago and it looked just like every movie ever made. As I recall it left theaters pretty fast too.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Maurice, she does. The script wasn't necessarily awful, but it was definitely mediocre.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Alex, you got it right. It's exactly that. :) Skip it.

Maynard Morrissey said...

trailer looks disappointing, plot sounds lame. I guess this will be a rental for me.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Harry, yeah, don't expect too much from this one. It's not awful, but it's kind of "been there done that" thriller, with not much thrills in it.

Craig Edwards said...

Somebody is in it who hasn't been on the Big Screen much lately - an older guy - I'm too lazy to look it up - but I was glad he got a theatrical release - otherwise, meh.

Unknown said...

Saw the previews and have to admit, my interest tanked. I was left with a meh feeling during the trailer. Like I'd seen this plot a million times on made-for-tv films. Think I will avoid and wait for Amanda in Lovelace.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Craig, I don't really know who are you talking about, but... :)

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Mel, I wasn't interested in it either, but I decided to give it a shot anyway. It was watchable, thanks to Amanda, but the plot was absolutely derivative.

Craig Edwards said...

I remembered this morning - it's Michael Pare - Lt. Bozeman - he has been stuck for years in direct to video stuff. Nice that he got a theatrical release on his resume again. I also think my buddy Nick Searcy is in the movie too.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Craig, I'm not familiar with him at all. :)

Wow, it seems you have quite a few celebrity friends. :) That's great.