Gone (2012)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Absolutely Fantastic

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

This is one of those movies where the lead performance can carry it with a decent plot. Amanda Seyfried's performance was the highlight in this suspense thriller where her sister vanishes from her house, and she is certain that the sister was abducted by the same person who had abducted her a few years earlier. The problem is, the police did not believe her when she reported her own abduction, due to her mental condition at the time, and they do not believe her now, so she is pretty much on her own, with the exception of one officer new on the case who seems to believe her. She makes all the right moves in her "investigation," there are some good twists and turns, and it leads to a good showdown at the end.This movie was very suspenseful all around with an excellent performance in the lead and a good supporting cast. You might not expect what happens at the end. I recommend it.*** out of ****

Average. That's how I see most films these days - Hollywood churning out more of the same - the same sort of horror films, the same sort of comedies, the same sort of superhero movies. Some are good and stick in your mind, others just fall into that big put of car crashes and shoot-outs somewhere in the back of your mind as they merge together.'Gone' is average. There is little special here - a girl, who might or might not have been kidnapped and escaped from a serial killer, loses her sister and is convinced the killer has come back for her. Is she mad, or telling the truth? However, despite an overall 'seen-it-all-before' feel to its synopsis, Gone isn't actually that bad.It had a certain something that, although it's only an average movie, at least managed to hold my attention for the ninety minutes. It had a good story. The characters weren't totally stupid and kept running back into burning houses and stuff. Then it was all nicely wrapped up at the end.You may have watched a million similar movies, but, if you think you might like the sound of this one, give it a go - you might be right (plus, Amanda Seyfried and Jennifer Carpenter are in it - so maybe it's just one for the lads).http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/

*Sarcastic Spoilers Within*Off the bat lets say it, Gone is not a very bad movie, it has the requisite mystery elements, Amanda Seyfried makes for an engaging lead as the once kidnapped girl who nobody seems to believe, the cinematography (Michael Grady) is high quality and there's some decent moments of chills along the way. Unfortunately the film just exists as a case of unadventurous screenplay writing.Gone is written by Allison Burnett, who writes it like some homework assignment set by a bored lecturer at a film studies class. Everything about it is rank and file what you have seen a million times before in this type of genre offering. A bunch of characters file in for cameos under the guise of red herrings, while our spunky heroine single handedly out-foxes the whole of the Portland police force, while naturally evading capture at every juncture.Everyone but Seyfried's character are just on the periphery of things, where the likes of Wes Bentley and Jennifer Carpenter stand around hoping for the script to give them something worthwhile to do. In fact Carpenter's character is a set up for a late plot development, only for it to be the last we see of her, which is just bizarre in hindsight. Then the "big" finale arrives and the serial killer/kidnapper arrives and gets afforded the same "none" time as everyone else.Nothing remotely original here, sadly. It serves decent enough as a time filler, but once the hopelessly weak finale plays its hand, you may come away asking yourself this question, why do films like this continually get green lit by studios when they have nothing more to offer other than putting another title on a budding actor's CV? 5/10

The ending is so incredibly wonderful and unexpected (on two counts)! I was fast-forwarding through the really scary parts and forcing myself to breathe deeply near the end. I hate seeing victimization of anyone who is rendered helpless, but particularly victimization of women and children. Cowardly criminals, miscarriage of justice and police gaffes are also my pet peeves... too much of that exists in real life. So I was reluctant to watch this film, although I do love a thriller. There was no need for me to hesitate. This is about a strong central woman character who is confident and brave, and so wonderful to watch the ending!!! Bravo Amanda Seyfriend and all connected with this film. I had to rewind and watch the ending several times, I enjoyed it so much.