Gone (2012) [Blu-ray]
Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline: Nothing will stop her.

Amanda Seyfried (In Time, Red Riding Hood) stars in this intense thriller about a desperate young woman who, after being ignored by the police, is forced to go on the hunt alone for a maniacal serial killer whom she believes has kidnapped her younger sister.

User Comment: Jimmy Collins from United States, 25 February 2012 • I think Gone is a film that is pretty much destined for bad reviews, which is a shame because I actually found it quite good, the story is about a girl who was abducted a year ago, but escaped her captor, she goes on living day to day life with the help of mess to deal with the trauma, that is until her captor comes back for her and takes her sister instead, a game of cat and mouse ensues and the viewer is taken on a fast paced cracking thrill ride. Yes there are problems with Gone, for starters the script is slightly underwritten and some story lines are totally forgotten about, particularly some of the story lines surrounding the supporting characters, and it has a bit of a 90's b-grade thriller vibe to it, but for what it's worth it also has a lot of good things about it too. The central performance by Amanda Seyfried is a good one, she is very convincing as the determined heroine of the story, the cinematography is very fitting to the story, the cold and damp setting of Portland is wonderfully captured by the camera, the pace is fast as a bullet, each scene is quick and doesn't drag on and it has some genuinely scary and tense scenes, particularly towards the end.

Some reviews I have read say that Ananda Seyfried deserves better roles, yes she deserves great roles because she is a supremely talented young actress but I really don't see what's so bad about this role, it's a strong female character, I think people may only want to see her in romantic comedies and that's it. Speaking of Ms Seyfried, she gets better and better in every film I see her in, she has a very natural acting style, she never seems forced, everything seems very natural for her, I look forward to seeing where her career goes.

Gone is a real middle ground kind of thriller, it's not a teen slasher and it's not a more mature adult thriller either, it kind of takes what's great about both types and combines them into a highly entertaining movie that will have you guessing tight until the very end. My only criticism is just the abandoned story lines of the supporting characters, I dint know if it's lazy writing or what but for me I felt I was steered in a direction only to be left thinking, but all in all the movie is great, I would definitely watch it again.

Give it a go, I hope you enjoy, Amanda Seyfried is wonderful. :) excellent.

Summary: A tense thriller that is enjoyable enough for a rainy day.

User Comment: soulcraft from Los Angeles, United States, 22 February 2012 • Here's the deal: GONE is an expertly crafted and calibrated serial killer thriller, the kind of genre movie that is usually undermined by bad acting and silly scripting. But here everything works together very well. Amanda Seyfried is a convincing and beautiful lead; the supporting cast with Wes Bentley, Jennifer Carpenter and Michael Pare, is solid. The pace is relentless. The script is tight and cleverly constructed. The whole thing works; the scenes fly by; the direction and editing reinforce each other. I never looked at my watch. The movie is a bullet. GONE delivers.

Summary: GONE delivers - a taut thriller with lovely Amanda Seyfried.

User Comment: Richard Reilly (FFman@comcast.net) from Colorado, 27 February 2012 • Gone proved to be a much different movie from what the trailer indicated. Under the veil of a cliché game of cat and mouse, Amanda Seyfried pulls of an incredibly difficult role by riding the line between insane and driven. The movie puts its entire success on keeping the audience guessing whether this could "all be in her head" or really is part of a sick plot. It succeeds in doing so on the shoulders of Amanda Seyfried.

Unfortunately, Gone built its own wall on the road to greatness. By keeping you guessing, the writer throws plenty of false hints and possible suspects. By doing so, the movie takes on the feel of the worn-out Hollywood thriller. Although this move may have been necessary, it means other aspects of the plot are seriously lacking. Characters are completely forgotten. The climax relies on a timed event that could not be planed. In the end, this thriller lacks all the elements to make it memorable.

Despite missing its mark, Gone is completely enjoyable. In many movies, I find myself evaluating the movie halfway through. That never happened. The tension maintained itself through the entirety of the movie. I found myself holding my breath, sitting on the edge of my seat, and wanting to scream, "Don't go in there!" This is how a thriller should work. I wish the amateur mistakes could have been removed. If that were done, this movie could have been great.

I must point out the politics of the movie. It was believable on most levels. The movie is set on the basis that a girl who has experience with PychCare will usually be treated like she is insane. This idea is done very well. The investigators do give her the time of day, but still appear to brush her off. As the movie progresses, it is fascinating to watch the investigators grow more worried about Seyfried with a gun rather than a missing girl. In the end, it is quite believable.

If you are in need of a good thriller, this is the movie to see. It stumbles, but will keep you guessing. There is no great advancements made in the genre, but that does not mean it is not worth seeing. When you put an actress in the lead who can keep you guessing, you will usually have a good thriller. Congratulations to Amanda Seyfried for getting out of her shitty movie slump.

reillyreviews.wordpress.com

Summary: Strong Performance by Seyfried.

[CSW] -2.9- A couple of years ago, Amanda Seyfried barely escaped from a serial killer, and then briefly lost her sanity when the police compounded the trauma by refusing to believe that the incident even happened. When her sister mysteriously disappears, Amanda becomes convinced, despite police skepticism, that the same man is responsible; she then single-handedly attempts to hunt him down while the cops try to stop her. This kicks off a largely tension-free plotline where Amanda basically runs from Location A to Location B while asking a lot of creepy people about her sister. A potentially tantalizing wrinkle develops with the repeated hint that much of what transpires may (or may not) simply be a hallucination experienced by our ex-mental patient heroine; but with that in mind I soon realized that were only a few different ways the story would likely play out, and none of them seemed terribly compelling. And without spoiling anything, I'll just say that I was right about that. Gone is not offensively awful, but it's too inert to offer more than a way to painlessly waste 90 minutes of your time.
[V4.5-A4.5] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box.

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