Gone Girl

Starring: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens, Patrick Fugit, Casey Wilson, Scoot McNairy, Sela Ward
Directed by: David Fincher
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Rating: R
2014

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: When Amy (Rosamund Pike), Nick Dunne's (Ben Affleck) wife goes missing, investigators start to question whether he was involved with her disappearance.

Review:

Tim: I've never read Gillian Flynn's bestseller and knew next to nothing about the plot of the film, other than what could be gleaned from trailers. I was still pretty excited going into this, because I'm a huge fan of director David Fincher's work. He has emerged as one of the most competent, consistently incredible directors in Hollywood today. This film fits perfectly into his wheelhouse. As no surprise, Fincher takes a strong source material and elevates it into a thrilling, twisting, surprising film. While Gone Girl might not reach the heights of some of Fincher's previous work, this is still a great movie and one of the best films of 2014.

Since I haven't read the book, I can't speculate how close this movie adhered to that plot. Certainly, things were left out, even though this movie is a bit long at 2:29 minutes. Interestingly, it never feels long. Fincher keeps the movie moving at a brisk pace and whenever the plot starts to lose momentum, an unexpected twist occurs to pick the pace back up. That translates into a long movie that never feels long and manages to hold our attention from start to finish.

The story was surprising, especially considering how dark the story was. I didn't expect this, as it seemed like most of the fans of the book were women (at least whom I spoke with). This is a dark, twisted, gritty, psychological thriller about very flawed people who do despicable things. And yet, the characters are never wholly unsympathetic. If you look through my reviews, I often complain about movies will totally unlikeable characters. Those films need to study what Fincher did here, because it is textbook. He takes these wretched characters and imbues them with just enough humanity to keep them from being hateful to the audience. It's very impressive.

The cast was good. Ben Affleck was a bit of questionable choice for the lead (given his spotty track record acting in films), but he proved the doubters wrong. While I didn't totally love his performance, it's a solid, effective turn. I enjoyed him in this film and would consider it one of his better roles. While Affleck is important to the film, Rosamund Pike is absolutely essential. Pike gives one of the most impressive performances I have seen in a long, long time. Her Amy is as complex as they come and while I spent a large part of the movie disgusted with her character, I was also fascinated by her as well. She is clearly troubled, but incredibly intelligent as well. I disliked her while also being impressed with her. Pike was so exceptional because despite her actions, there was always just a hint of sympathy for the character. I'm not sure how she pulled this off, but it's one of the most surprising, unexpected, excellent performances I have seen. I'm glad she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and I would have been happy had she won.

The supporting cast is strong, too. I don't like Tyler Perry, but I did enjoy his strong performance here. Kim Dickens stole the show, giving one of the best supporting performances I've seen in a long, long time. She doesn't get much credit, but she adds so much to the film. I loved her performance here. It was also nice seeing Scoot McNairy and Sela Ward in smaller roles. I love Neil Patrick Harris, but I didn't quite love his performance here. He was fine, but he never seemed to be a perfect fit in the film. There was something in his performance that didn't quite feel authentic. Still, he contributed in some ways. I also liked Carrie Coon, who had a few terrific moments and stole a few scenes of her own. As a whole, this cast was very, very good.

While there's a lot of positives in this film, I have to ultimately give most of the credit to Fincher. The guy is an incredibly talented director and he elevated this material. While the film only had 1 Academy Award nomination, I still believe Gone Girl is one of the best films of 2014. It was a dark, brutal, adult movie that told an interesting story about complex, mature characters. We need more movies like this.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 8


If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Lovely Bones, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Zodiac