Gone
Heitor Dhalia
The story: Jill (Amanda Seyfried) has never been the same ever since she escaped from a serial killer who left her at the bottom of a hole in the woods. She now lives with her sister Molly (Emily Wickersham) and is slowly trying to put her life together again. When Molly disappears, Jill is convinced that the killer is back. But since the police doubt Jill was ever abducted in the first place, she has to track her sister down before it is too late.
Going, going, gone. Is that the trajectory of Amanda Seyfried’s once-hot now-cooling acting career?
The actress had successfully made the jump from the small screen after notable roles in the young adult sleuthing drama Veronica Mars (2004-2007) and the polygamy drama Big Love (2006-2011).
Her winning turn as the spirited bride-to-be in the hit musical Mamma Mia! (2008) promised to be the start of bigger and better things to come.
But that promise seems to have fizzled out with her recent roles in underwhelming films such as the romance Dear John (2010), the fairy-tale reboot Red Riding Hood (2011) and the science-fiction thriller In Time (2011). At least she cannot be accused of being a slacker.
In Gone, Seyfried’s big eyes are used to good effect to convey fear and frustration. And it is interesting the way Jill just casually cooks up stories whenever she is trying to pump someone for information. Too bad the plot never really goes anywhere.
While the cops think that she is a nutjob, the film does not do enough to make you wonder whether Jill was abducted in the first place.
Instead, the bulk of the film focuses on her improbably smooth trek towards the perpetrator. To ratchet up the tension, the action here is compressed into a day or two. But this means there is precious little time for dead ends or red herrings. A clue will lead her down some path where some other clue will conveniently present itself. This is a most careless killer at work here.
After all that chasing about, the film ends rather abruptly on an anti-climactic note that is not very satisfying at all.
If you are a fan of missing-person genre films, hunt down The Vanishing instead – not the cop-out 1993 American remake but the riveting and chilling 1988 Dutch original.
As for Seyfried, there is still hope for her yet. She plays porn actress Linda Lovelace in the upcoming biopic, Lovelace, and also the role of the tragic Cosette in the musical film Les Miserables. Just for displaying that fearless range, the actress deserves to stick around a little longer.
(ST)