I am a BIG movie buff and can spend days watching them. When I saw this one had Morgan Freeman in it I felt sure I was in for a good movie.....Absolutely not, this movie is so slow and so boring. Casey Affleck really needs to brush up on his speech as I found him really annoying in this movie. Could not follow his dialogue.........very frustrating...... would not recommend this film to anybody......YAWN.....! No offence....just being honest and giving my opinion. BTW, I have never given a review before NOW. Dx

This is a wonderful film. Ben is an incredible director. All the cast did a phenomenal job in their roles. It's a heart breaking film that leaves you thinking about what is right and what is wrong. We know- but the truth is not always easy. End scene.

I have had this on my watch list for a while but I was disappointed with it when I finally watched. Amy Ryan does give a fantastic performance as the mother of little Amanda, but I just didn't find Casey Affleck convincing as a tough private detective. I also found the plot reaching for a higher significance with the final revelations that I found unbelievable and artificial. A shame because there are some really high calibre actors involved!

I love Ben Afflecks work, both as an actor and a director he has consistently blown me away with his work, while he went on to say great things with his directorial ability I can't say he had a great start in what I found to be an extremely misguided crime thriller. Another trope of Ben Affleck I find recently is that even when he isn't in a good movie he tends to be the highlight of it and this is the case here to, his work behind the camera is truly excellent here, he's not afraid to go slow and a lot of his shots are done all in wide angles without cuts and it's extremely effective, this film doesn't have a whole lot of action but when it comes he handles it very well, nothing about the violence feels like a movie, but realistic and often shocking. In all his films he uses the location as a character and it's no different here and adds this dark feeling that stays consistent throughout the film.The performances here are all stellar, Casey Affleck gives a very subtle performance here, you can read a lot of his face without him saying anything and carries a lot of this film for me. Ed Harris is also fantastic in this movie, a very wounded and tired performance then he plays extremely well. Amy Ryan absolutely floored me in this movie, she was so despicable I couldn't believe and absolutely earned her Oscar nomination for her work here. The ending was handled perfectly in this film, it asks the audience to think for itself and doesn't give any easy answers, it leaves them feeling unfulfilled and makes you look back in the entire film as a whole. It was a bold note to end on and I really admired them for not giving a stereotypical happy ending. But I find this film to be very mediocre for a few reasons for one, the pacing. This film drags for large portions and honestly bored me quite a bit. A lot of that has to do with a lot of meaningless sequences, the film takes a turn about half way through and nothing ever comes of it other than to extend the run time. Before the ending nothing that happened really stayed with me and makes this film rather dull for me.I have no issue with slow movies but I have to be invested in the characters for that to be a benefit and I don't care for most of these characters, many of them are one note and just have a tendency to repeat the same dialogue over and over again. I don't care about them so I don't particularly care for the situation. I particularly didn't care for Michelle Monaghan's character, I didn't feel like she had much chemistry with Affleck so I didn't really buy their romance. The twist in this movie is also very mishandled, not only was it really cliché but a lot of the characters involved with this twist feel forced in and don't feel very within character for them, it adds something to the ending but on its own it does nothing to me except for making me feel underwhelmed. The Town is one of my favourite movies, Argo is one of my favourite Best Picture winners and I even enjoyed Live By Night for what it was but I really couldn't get behind this film. I like the direction, performances and ending but the film as a whole is bogged down by weak characters, an unearned twist and slow pacing. I'll still watch anything Ben Affleck directs but I can't say he hit the ground running in his career as a director. 5.5/10: C (Mediocre)