"Gone" Review by Chris

After her sister disappears, Jill (Amanda Seyfried) believes a serial killer from her past is back for revenge. If her past experiences have taught her anything, it’s to use her instincts, and she's going to need all of them to find her sister in time. The police believe Jill is crazy, and are hunting her to keep those around her safe, but we won’t discover the truth until we’ve watched the Heitor Dhalia directed “Gone.”

The premise behind the film is nothing new — Jill's story is far from original, but Seyfried’s portrayal seems more realistic than most films of a similar nature. She's spent the years since her kidnapping in therapy and self-defense classes. She avoids human contact and can't trust any stranger walking down the street. Her paranoia helps make her relatable, but as the movie advances this starts to change. Her investigations turn up little evidence, making it progressively easier to believe she really is insane.

And as if you need any more reason to doubt her, Jill finds her evidence though dumb luck, and it's mostly circumstantial. And every time she sees a roll of duct tape — used to restrain her during her kidnapping — she acts like she's found a huge clue. She never stops to consider that if everyone who used duct tape was a serial killer, home repair would be virtually impossible. It doesn't help that every time she finds any real evidence she undermines her own credibility by lashing out or acting crazy in some way. It seems clear that as a director, Dhalia didn't want a straightforward film, but she also succeeds in alienating the audience from Jill as she seems to become more and more insane.

Despite this, Amanda Seyfried does provide a strong lead and a solid performance. She plays the paranoid victim with skill, making it evident that the faults with her character are directorial. This becomes even more apparent when characters like Detective Hood (Wes Bently) are introduced. He's portrayed as a sinister potential suspect, but vanishes from the story almost instantly. When he's seen later, he's little more than a background extra. These extra characters appear for no reason and muddle the story

Heitor Dhalia has strong camera work throughout. At points, the action becomes difficult to discern, which helps the audience slip into Jill's shoes. The events behind the original kidnapping are slowly revealed in traditional back-story style, keeping the air of mystery alive. The sound design focuses on details like room-filling board creaks, while the music is toned down for most scenes so the subtly of the sound work can shine.

Sadly, the decent cinematography does little to save "Gone" from having bad character work and a unoriginal plot. Increasing disconnectedness from Jill makes it hard to stay attached to the film. The audience can enjoy the high tension and mystery, but once all the questions are answered, you'll never want to ask them again.

2 "Rolls of Duct Tape" out of 5

Written by Chris
Edited by Aaron