Gone Review

[Mr.HoRrOr]

Plot:A young woman named Jill (Seyfried) returns home from her night shift to find her sister's bed empty. She's convinced the serial killer who kidnapped her two years before has come back to finish the job. But the police do not believe Jill, who knows time is running out. With no one to turn to, she sets off to find her sister and face her abductor once and for all.












Cast:
Amanda Seyfried
Jennifer Carpenter
Emily Wickersham
Wes Bentley
Erin Carufel
Socratis Otto
Sebastian Stan












My Thoughts:"Gone"...are the days of good horror/thrillers.









Review:"Gone", is Heitor Dhalia's attempt at creating a horror/thriller that scares the audience with some new technology. It's called..."phantom fear". Where the scares are there. You just can't see or notice them. OOOOOOOH! Amanda Seyfried stars as Jill. Apparently, a few years back, a "not-so-scary" sadist, kidnapped and drugged her. Whatever plans he had for her (most likely a romantic candlelit dinner for two. Followed by lots of yelling and threats at knifepoint.) He didn't get to implement them.

As she escaped his clutches. And made it safely out. Now...Jill is living her life, and her sister has moved in with her. But the psycho still remains at large. And one day, Jill returns home from work to see her sister missing! It seems "he" has returned. And was looking for Jill. Couldn't find her, so he snatched her sis instead! Now, Jill has to find him before it's too late! I had a lot of questions from the very beginning of this movie.

For starters, how is Jill still living in the same town as when she was kidnapped? Most sane women if kidnapped by a local psycho. Would've left for far away lands the moment they got back home! Yet Jill apparently got free, returned home, and just went on with her life as if it never happened! She's either really tough, or really dumb! After all, he could like...just COME BACK for round two! After all, he knows where you live and all! Still! Remember?

As this movie unfolded, I got the sense the studio just wanted to use this film as a vehicle for Amanda Seyfried. To cash in on her rising star. And I have a real beef with this. The script was written to be boring. Yet I wasn't "bored", persay. Perhaps, it's because the directing was very crisp and edgy. So that was enough to keep me awake. And Seyfried doesn't spend much of the film walking around, crying, and whining.

From the moment her sis is snatched away by "mystery-crazy-guy"...she is in full "Run Lola Run" mode for the entire movie. Trying to track down the nut who has her. But this movie was obviously penned for hardcore "Amanda" fans. Who'd support her in just about anything. For example. Amanda Seyfried in "Jennifer's Body"? Great! Amanda in "Gone" though? Not-so-great! But if you're "fully enamored" with her as a personality or actress...you wouldn't notice the difference between either film because "Amanda"...is in both.

So that's really all you care about! For me though, I could tell this movie was expected to do well just based on her name. Similar to "Red Riding Hood". A very boring movie. But the Summit didn't care because Amanda was in it so that would be enough to get it over the $20 million weekend hump. And justify a sequel or two. Even if straight-to-dvd. And it's sad that already, Amanda is being jammed into movies like this.

"Gone" felt more to me like a movie Amanda Seyfried, with a long resume, at age 45 or so. Would do. Kind of like how now, you could make a glut of dvd sales by putting Ashley Judd or Mira Sorvino into a straight-to-dvd indie slasher movie. Because people know Mira from "The Replacement Killers", "Mimic", and a bunch of other movies. And people know Ashley from "Kiss The Girls", "Double Jeopardy", and a ton of other films. Whereas early in Ashley and Mira's careers respectively, people wouldn't see a straight-to-dvd indie slasher movie with either actress in it because no one knew them that well.

They had no capital. No "resume". But now, people would say like..."wow, that movie looks like sh**. But Ashley Judd is in it. So I'll rent it anyways." Unfortunately for Amanda, the same cannot be said for "Gone". She hasn't been acting long enough to have that kind of "juice". So when people see the trailers for "Gone". They'd say..."that film looks like absolute crap. Pretty girl though." Hence why "Gone" bombed at the box office. Amanda is not Ashley Judd or Mira Sorvino. Hence, if "Gone" by appearances looks bad. Then it's just "bad".

No "but she is in it" comments. It's just..."it looks bad...period". So maybe, Amanda should've passed on this role. Although she makes the movie halfly watchable, with the spunk and persistence of her character. Jill. Still, this film is not a good movie. Too many holes, and things that don't make sense. And in case you're wondering how much help Jill gets from the local "five-o"? Well not much. When she brings the kidnapping of her sis to their attention. They kind of just shrug and tell her to get lost.

Hence, Jill ends up taking matters into her own hands. And eventually, becomes the "pursued" herself by the police. But this film fails because well, to put it simply...Amanda as Jill, is scarier than her sisters kidnapper! Jill is definitely a non-nonsense girl when it comes to trying to rescue someone. Dishing out either verbal scorn or sarcastic insults to those who either can't help her. Or are just too lazy or indifferent to her situation. But the kidnapper seems like more of a perv.

Some loner who likes to snatch pretty local girls because the cops are to inept or nonchalant to really bother pursuing him. Another thing to note about "Gone" is how they try to make up for a horrid story, by placing familiar faces into the film as supporting cast. Jennifer Carpenter, Wes Bentley, and Sebastian Stan. All make appearances in the movie. Yet don't do much of anything of note really.

Anyways, "Gone" eventually reaches its climax and yet somehow, never really manages to get anymore exciting than it starts out as being. However, the writer tries to throw us for a small loop by throwing out an ambiguous ending. That for better or worse. Kind of makes you feel like laughing at how sad the whole situation is. It's like, "oh...so now the semi-script-creativity comes. With a minute left till the end credits roll.

Great." In the end, "Gone" is a pure shill for "A movie starring Amanda Seyfried". It kind of reminded me of those bad 90's movies that so many kids used to watch simply and only, because their favorite talking dog, seal, or woodpecker was starring in it. "Gone" is better seen on DVD. The theatrical experience was meant for movies far more edgy than this.










Positives:Amanda does her best job to carry a weak script. And her character has a kind of charm. As she scours the town for her sister. The directing is nicely done.









Negatives:The script is too boring, bashful, and uneventful for a big-screen horror/thriller. The bad guy is more like an everyday Facebook perv, and the lack of action or suspense in this movie was just pathetic.










Overall:One star out of four.