Review of Gone (2012) by Dawdlingpoet — 27 Nov 2021

This is a grippinng mystery/thriller which has plenty of suspense. It has quite a sinister tone throughout, with dim lighting and heavy use of suspenseful music to add atmosphere - think stringed instruments etc.). The plot is nothing new but regardless, its acted out well and I'd say that Amanda Seyfried put in a particularly chilling performance, portraying the main character Jill, seeming very much obsessed with the disappearance of her sister and insistant on not letting anyone or anything stop her from finding her.

There are some plot twists present which are pretty good. The movie lasts about an hour and forty minutes, so compared to some movies its fairly short, meaning that it, thankfully, doesn't suffer the curse of being annoyingly boring and filled out with 'padding' (unnecessary, bland scenes), at least not in my opinion anyway. The pace isn't always fast for the entire duration of the movie but the dialogue is good and I didn't find myself bored with it at any point - most of the time we're learning new details of what may have happened the night her sister disappeared and we (as viewers, or I as a viewer) find ourselves quite engrossed, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together as it were and come to the conclusions Jill has.

There are themes of paranoia, trust, doubt and mental health present in the movie, which doesn't give much away considering these all come to light fairly early on. The movie may make you question the local police but then I suppose most could sympathise with their stance, given the background involved.

Ordinarily, I'd say that this is a rather predictable movie that isn't a big deal but I feel like it was well shot and directed, with a good cast and I didn't feel bored out of my mind, infact I thought it was really quite engrossing overall, so I can't say its a bland or bad movie overall. I think the cinematography, classic score and casting have alot to do with that. The characters present are all fairly interesting, they all have their different quirks and potential motives, from Sharon Ames who works in the same diner as Jill, to Mr. Miller who works at a lock smith company.

Yes, I think overall I would recommend watching this movie as I found it quite suspenseful and engrossing. The performances are good and its not too long drawn out - for a movie of its type, its a pretty good one.