Page 20 THE VILLADOM TIMES I & II • March 7, 2012 ‘Gone’ lacks suspense and ultimately disappoints by Dennis Seuling In “Gone,” Amanda Seyfried stars as Jill Parrish, a kidnapping survivor who was forcefully taken from her home and imprisoned in a deep hole in a heavily wooded area, where she found the remains of other victims. She managed to escape, but a year later, her sister Molly (Emily Wickersham) goes missing and Jill is convinced that the same man had come back looking for her. She goes to the police, but her suspicions are tough to prove since there was never any evidence found concerning her own kidnapping. Over the last year, Jill has been seeing a psychotherapist to help her overcome lingering fears. Still, she keeps files of local missing persons and contacts the police whenever she believes she has leads. The police now think of her as a nuisance and a paranoid. The plot of this film is shamelessly cribbed from any number of Hitchcock classics about a victim who cannot go to the authorities and must enter into dangerous situations alone to discover the identity of the bad guy. The dramatic point in the Hitchcock pictures was placing an average Joe or Jill in extraordinary situations. Director Heitor Dahlia does the same with her Jill, but makes her more avenging warrior than frightened girl. She packs a .38, concocts on-the-spot lies to gather information, and has detective skills and instincts that would make Sherlock Holmes seem an amateur. However, she is tough to believe as a real character, and merely appears as Hollywood’s mannequin substitute for one. Seyfried is an actress (and I use the term lightly) with one expression: wideeyed, deer-in-the-headlights terror. This ceases to be effective since, after a couple of scenes, she comes off more as a saucer-eyed cartoon than a woman determined to find her missing sister. Viewers should be rooting for her, but she becomes more and more irritating as the film progresses. This routine thriller lacks Amanda Seyfried stars as a young woman in a desperate search to find her sister in ‘Gone.’ a key ingredient: suspense. The narrative is essentially a police procedural, minus the this guy goes to such efforts to kidnap and imprison young police. Jill travels throughout Portland, Oregon, attempt- women. “Gone” has a couple of good supporting performances. ing to piece together clues that might lead her to Molly. Assorted unsavory or suspicious characters are introduced, Jennifer Carpenter appears as a friend of Jill’s and Daniel any one of whom might be the serial killer, but when the Sunjata plays a detective who investigated Jill’s original tension should increase and suspense should be at its peak, claims of being abducted. These talented actors deserve much better material. the movie coasts along into familiar, clichéd territory. A thriller customarily builds to a peak of dramatic Another significant flaw is the identity of the serial killer. In “Silence of the Lambs,” Buffalo Bill was a real action. The “big” sequence in “Gone” is a terrible disapcharacter. He was vile and horrifying, but a solid charac- pointment that leaves viewers wondering why they invested ter nonetheless. In “Gone,” viewers learn little about the time and money to see the movie. This undistinguished killer and see him even less, and so are not horrified by PG-13 rated picture is a collection of obvious red herrings, him at all. Call him the generic serial killer. Though it contrived situations, unlikely encounters, and overly zealwould be unsettling, it might be interesting to find out why ous vigilantism. The Waldwick Band will continue its indoor concert series on March 18 at 3 p.m. at The Village School, 100 West Prospect Street in Waldwick. Under the baton of Edmund A. Moderacki, the band will perform the overture from Herold’s “Zampa” and Beethoven’s “Coriolan Overture” as the principal works. The program will also include John Phillip Sousa’s concert waltz, “The Flashing Eyes of Andalusia,” Rachaninoff’s “Italian Polka,” “The Entry of the Peers” Band’s indoor concerts continue from “Iolanthe” by Gilbert and Sullivan, and medley from English composer Noel Coward arranged by Robert Russell Bennett. Johnny Warrington’s “Tailgate Concerto,” a Dixieland piece, will also be performed by members of the band. Marches by Edwin Franko Goldman and John Philip Sousa will complete the program. The concert is free and all are welcome. Visit www. waldwickband.org for additional information about the band’s upcoming performances.