Gone Review
By Lora Grady
"Gone" and Quickly Forgotten
"Gone" isn't the worst couple of hours you could spend in a theater this year, but chances are good that if you do see it, it won't stick with you for long. It's a passably entertaining mystery/thriller with a decent setup, a surprisingly draggy midsection, and a "meh" ending. If you've ever taken a screenwriting course, it will be tough to watch this one without seeing the mechanics behind its construction. For all of you non-screenwriters, if you've ever seen a movie with a kidnap plot - and of course, you have - you'll probably also be one step ahead of "Gone" the whole way.
There have been so many kidnap/serial killer/police procedural movies over the years that any one with even a modicum of originality starts on the plus side of the register. In this case, the somewhat-fresh approach revolves around Jill (Amanda Seyfried, "
Red Riding Hood"), living in Portland, OR, and trying to put her life back together after being victimized by a faceless would-be killer who kidnapped her and threw her in a pit in the woods outside of the city. Or
was she a victim? It seems that the police were unable to find any evidence to back up her story after she "escaped". The cops appear to have written Jill off pretty quickly, and she did a stint in a mental institution but continued to assert her tale as the truth. Now she's super cautious: she takes self-defense classes, works the night shift as a waitress, and the house she shares with her sister, Molly (Emily Wickersham, "
I Am Number Four"), has four sturdy locks on the front door. Jill's daylight hours are spent traipsing through the woods, doggedly working a search grid of the area in an effort to find evidence of the pit where she was imprisoned, and where she says she saw other bodies of young girls. She's convinced that her attacker is still out there - so convinced that, when Molly suddenly goes missing, she knows it's the same guy who took her.
That's a lot of setup, and there's more to come: the police don't believe Jill, and she takes matters into her own hands to find out what happened to Molly. Unfortunately, she goes about her own investigation armed with a pistol for protection; when word gets back to the cops they put out an "armed and dangerous" call on her, and she becomes a fugitive. Having to dodge the police while tracking the kidnapper adds immediacy and momentum to Jill's quest. Nonetheless, it's surprising how overladen the second act feels, as Jill follows a set of clues that seem somewhat haphazardly strung together. However, one element that's pretty entertaining throughout this segment is the increasingly convoluted cover stories that Jill spins as excuses for asking odd questions of strangers: she's looking for her grandfather who has Alzheimers, someone wrecked her grandmother's Cadillac, she's looking for whoever stole her bike. At one point she even manages to throw in a reference to Justin Bieber, for good measure.
But by the time Jill is driving into the woods in the middle of the night, going to meet a guy who may be the killer, could be a helpful witness, or might just be a voice in her head, the film has started to wear out its welcome. When we finally learn exactly what happened (though we never really learn why), the response to the minor twist at the end is less, "Aaah!" and more, "Oh".
As far as performances go, Amanda Seyfried inhabits Jill's character well. She's got a steely resolve that's always believable as she convinces us that she knows she's right and she won't stop fighting. However, some of the secondary and tertiary roles seem overcast: Daniel Sunjata, Wes Bentley, Katherine Moennig, and Michael Pare (!) all play detectives who don't have much to do beyond denying Jill's story, barking at her over the phone, trying to lure her into various traps, or complaining about what's going to happen if they can't catch her. They might as well be called the "Red Herring Squad". Nick Searcy (TV's "Justified") has a nice turn as an affable hardware store owner who gives Jill information, but Jennifer Carpenter, who brings such force of nature energy to her role on Showtime's "Dexter", is given little to do here beyond providing a couple of clues and a set of keys.
But all of that could be beside the point, as the real star of "Gone" may in fact be the great outdoors of the Pacific Northwest. As the setting for Jill's search, her abduction flashbacks, and the third act denouement, you'd expect the thickly forested land outside Portland to be dense and foreboding. But the way it's photographed here, the footage could easily pull double-duty in a tourist video: it's a hiker's paradise with towering leafy-green trees, sparkling clear rivers, and a meadow with convenient, rustic picnic benches. Even the paths that Jill is drawn down in an effort to reach the supposedly isolated campsite where she expects to unravel the mystery seem artfully groomed and well-traveled; it's hard to believe anyone could be lurking out there and committing nefarious deeds without having to worry about some weekend outdoorsman stumbling across the evidence. With all of that beautiful cinematography - and the city shots are equally compelling - chances are that your urge to visit Portland will last long after your memories of the rest of this film are "Gone".
