As a big fan of Dennis Lehane's gritty detective novels set in Boston (Mystic River is another of his), I was hoping for good things with the film adaptation. And the good news is that Ben Affleck has scored a winner with his directorial debut. His brother Casey Affleck plays the young detective who, with his girlfriend/partner, reluctantly takes on a case of a missing four year old. The cast is outstanding, the locales authentic and the moral choices made by all the characters will keep you thinking about this film for a long time after it ends.
Rated R for language, violence, and drug references.