★★☆☆☆ It’s fair to say that the majority of the press pack attending the recent screening of Heitor Dhalia’s Gone (2012) would have come along with preconceived ideas of what the film was going to be like. Whilst it did manage to regurgitate the innumerable clichés and terribly cheesy one-liners that arguably belong back in some 1980s second-rate action movie, there is one thing that saves this Amanda Seyfried vehicle from being a total disaster: a relatively good twist. After returning home from a night shift at work, Jill Parrish (leading lady Seyfried) discovers that her sister Molly (Emily Wickersham) is inexplicably missing.
Only a year previous, Jill herself was abducted, but somehow managed to escape. Thus, Jill leaps to the conclusion that the same man has in fact kidnapped her own sister. Somewhat predictably, the police think Jill is being paranoid and tell her to simply wait it out. However, afraid that Molly will be dead by sundown, our plucky protagonist heads out alone to track down her past abductor. Gone certainly raised a few snorts and giggles throughout its 94 minutes, but nobody walked out early (a clear sign of a dire film) and despite the highly derivative plot, it was clear that the film’s climax was a shock to all seated. Dhalia’s latest should just about manage to placate its target audience, arguably as a result of Seyfried’s talents.
Dhalia’s Gone is what it is – a relatively suspenseful action-thriller, comprised of all the building blocks one would expect from the genre whilst conforming to all of its rules and stylistic tendencies. Its cast collectively deliver an acceptable group performance, with the now established star Seyfried at its helm doing what she does best: playing the troubled and traumatised victim.
