Genre: Thriller
Synopsis: A man's fiance is kidnapped into the depths of New York's subway tunnels.
About: Recently sold spec
Writer: Jeremy W. Soule
It's time for a weekend kidnapping sandwich! Today I'll be reviewing the recently sold "Gone" (at least I think it sold), and then Monday the recently sold "Layover." And no, "Layover" is not a sequel to "Bumped." And Gone is not prequel to "Taken." Although in the strange world of Hollywood, I'm sure they're all related.
Oh boy...where do I start with this one?
Gone is not as bad as it tries to be. In a script with mole people, deaf-mutes, underground cities, and fabled 1900's abandoned tunnels, there was potential for this to be really shitty. But Gone redeems itself with a couple of late second-act twists and a reasonably satisfying ending. But boy, did it look like it was going to stumble before it got there.
A big deal is made of Andrew, 20s, being claustrophobic early in the film, and yet this has little to no effect on the storyline. That sums up "Gone." Lots of declarations. Not a lot of following through. Andrew is engaged to the beautiful Becky, whose father just happens to be the president of American Motors (aka loaded).
Andrew and Becky hop on the subway when, a few minutes into the ride, the train makes a sudden unorthodox stop. Everyone's told to evacuate. They walk down the tunnel to the next exit and as they're almost evacuated to safety, Andrew turns around only to find that Becky is GONE (I'm thinking this is the inspiration for the title).
Andrew frantically searches for her. Nobody seems keen on helping him. This is one of the underlying themes I really liked about Gone. This idea that we live in a world where nobody cares about anybody anymore. I thought that was really well done, and it's something I believe is a growing problem in the world. When I hear someone scream at 11pm at night, I don't bat an eye. I'm just so used to crazy background city noise. Soule captures that here. Anyway, a cop reluctantly decides to help him, and their search takes them down into the depths of the subway system, until they're in an underground world all its own. They run into crackheads, deaf-mute graffiti artists, even mayors of underground communities.
Gone's problem is that, at its core, it's just silly. It's a silly idea. A silly concept. A silly execution. This guy goes down into a subway underworld to find his fiance, and starts meeting all these goofy characters. There's no genuine fear. There's an underground world that compares itself to Oz for God's sakes. It's all so strange that the immediacy of finding and rescuing his fiance feels secondary. That's not to say the characters weren't interesting. They were. I would even say they deserve to be in a movie - just not this one.
Gone also falls headfirst into some of the traps of the genre. Like when the killer/kidnapper is revealed (spoiler --------it's the cop) and gives the order to kill Andrew, you immediately wonder why he didn't kill Andrew one of the 1800 other chances he had to kill him- specifically when they were alone in a tunnel that nobody's been in for 90 years (and probably won't be for another 90 - don't know about you but if I were going to kill someone, I'd think that would be a pretty safe place to do it). The writer tries to talk his way out of it (at least he addresses it) by hiring M. Night's character from The Village to play the part of Edgar The Explainer, but it's kind of like the liar getting caught, then trying to explain why he's not lying. It only makes it worse. This is sloppy stuff and shouldn't be allowed in a screenplay that's selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
But like I said, there were a few twists that I didn't see coming and everything wrapped up a little nicer than I expected. I can see why a lot of people are hating this script. It needs work. But I can also see why it sold. The unique universe of the abandoned New York subway tunnels has been a ripe environment for a film for a long time. I've always wondered why studios hadn't made a film about it . Maybe we'll finally see one with "Gone."
[ ] trash
[ ] barely readable
[x] worth the read
[ ] impressive
[ ] genius
What I learned from Gone: The value of a good twist is incredibly important in movies like these. You have to jolt your audience, let them know that they may *think* they know where the movie's going, but they don't have a clue. Stay on a predictable track for too long, and the reader/audience is going to lose interest.
