Leofwine_draca GONE is a small-scale psychological thriller along the lines of DEAD CALM, KALIFORNIA and plenty more besides. In essence, it's a three-hander involving a group of young people on a road trip across the Australian outback, but it's no WOLF CREEK. In fact, it's no anything: this turns out to be completely uninvolving, purely because the script fails to get you empathising with the characters.British scriptwriter James Watkins co-wrote this with an Aussie and it's a real stinker. Watkins also wrote MY LITTLE EYE and EDEN LAKE, both of which I enjoyed a great deal more than this, so maybe it's the Australian influence. The dialogue is lame, with almost the whole film consisting of people arguing, and the tension is non-existent. For a thriller this has zero thrills and zero suspense.The actors try their hardest but they're saddled with unappealing characters. Shaun Evans plays a guy who is slightly obnoxious and full of himself, and he's the lead. Not a good start. Scott Mechlowicz is a little better as the stranger, but he's way too subdued and you can tell he's miscast in this type of role. Amelia Warner has a completely horrible and misjudged character and can do nothing with it.GONE is lifeless and lacking in intrigue throughout, with lots of drawn-out and repetitive arguments going nowhere. Something DOES finally happen in the last five minutes but it's entirely predictable as is the rest of the movie. There was potential here, but it disappears very early on.

TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews A young British couple are travelling through the outback, hitching a ride with a mysterious, charismatic American who becomes increasingly suspect. After this music montages(the first choice doesn't even seem to fit) its way through most of the first third, you might be led to believe that it's picking up. You would be sorely mistaken. It never actually goes anywhere, in spite of genuine potential, and the very last portion of this just gives up on being convincing(especially as far as the actions and logic goes, and it was already on shaky ground). This is a road movie, psychological horror exploitation flick set in Australia, and as such, it is decent. The filming and editing are skillful enough(it even creates mood several times) and there is one or two bits that are downright good. Characters are pretty bland, undeveloped and not entirely credible. Alex, the boyfriend with a secret he doesn't want her to discover, is the best in the latter regard. Their behaviour and poor decision-making abilities keep the paperthin, predictable plot just barely going, until the seemingly ceaseless 80 minutes finally come to a close. Acting isn't bad. This is mostly focused on the three leads, albeit they're not isolated(I expected this to have them stranded and that be a cause of conflict, and it went stupider than that) for more than maybe half of this combined. One has to wonder why they don't simply get out of the situation since that's clearly the smarter option. They have cell phones, too. Operating ones. Yet we're just expected to accept this at face value. For an interesting psycho(whose attraction may not be towards Sophie... not that it actually pays off to notice that) and potentially visually compelling setting(not photographed in any kind of engaging way) and other things I've mentioned, this doesn't actually end up offering anything worth it in return for your investment of time and attention. There is a bit of disturbing content, a little gory/bloody violence and sexuality and momentary nudity in this. The DVD comes with a reasonable and informational enough 29 and a half minute featurette and 8 minutes of deleted(or rather, extended, not to mention padded, no-wonder-these-were-cut) scenes. I recommend this to people who enjoy this kind of thing. 4/10

dbdumonteil This is one of the many movies called "gone" made in 2007.This one is a road movie (Australia has become a good place to film such flicks of the genre) and even ,a road movie too many.It cannot hold a candle,for instance ,to "Kalifornia" (1993) and the beautiful landscapes and a superb shot of the Australian sky at dawn can't hide what is definitely lacking: a firm screenplay and elements which would have made Taylor an interesting character .The Taylor/Alex relationship revolves around the latter's girlfriend and it's not enough to keep the movie from being derivative .Only the trick of the phone is pretty smart but the average viewer will have guessed what happened long before the ending.An ending in the grand tradition of "Friday the thirteenth" .Nothing new under the Australian sun.

godssmartaleck This is the kind of film and director I would love to work in and with... A plus casting for the "villain" especially....and some of the best direction in this type of movie that I have ever seen.....The director used none of the "thriller" music and/or fancy editing cuts to make his point. Just brilliant character direction. I could not stop thinking about it. It's amazing that movies like this will hardly get noticed as it deserves, while "blockbusters" like "Legend" or the "Bank Job", or many other movies that are only popular because Hollywood hyped them to no end, will have an audience of millions. When are people gonna learn that the best movies are not made by the big studios, but by independent filmmakers who are pretty much the only ones who still make film for the story, and for their passion for the creative process...