Gone Girl: Movie Review


"Gone Girl" encapsulates what made the book its based from so great - character perspectives. David Fincher's take perfectly plows through every nuance conflict, strife, emotion that each main character had to go through to be in whatever situation they found themselves in. And this is amplified further with you, as the viewer and as a spectator to this crime scene, find yourselves questioning if the truth you're seeing with your very own eyes are the real facts or just plain "bullshit".

Former New York magazine writer Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) and his “cool girl” wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) have recently found themselves in a tight bind. With the recession hitting their jobs badly, the couple is forced to leave the Big Apple and make ends meet in the Midwest. A move that proves to put a huge rift between husband and wife. On the occasion of their 5th wedding anniversary, Amy goes missing. At first, the cops are doubtful that Nick Dunne is at fault but when they take notice of Nick's weird and suspicious behavior plus the surmounting evidence against him piling up up, Nick becomes the prime suspect. The case of Amy Dunne suddenly becomes the vaunted object of a media frenzy as the search for her, dead or alive, plays out before the eyes of a world thirsting for revelations.

"Gone Girl" epitomizes how big screen adaptation of novels should be made. The biggest thing it is able to do is to capture the feel and the style that its source material represented and with it also the guess work and the eventual thrill that comes after that. Of course, this cannot be achieved with a perfect screenplay alone. Most of what makes "Gone Girl" seemingly magical is brought on mostly by the superb acting from its leads. Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike are able to adapt to their characters' demanding roles that required various facades and veneers of conflicting emotions and mental states. Add to that outstanding cinematography and a soundtrack that perfectly fits what's happening on screen and what we get is a frighteningly real experience. Minus the first half hour or so which felt off and unbalanced, the film is simply amazing once things starts to unravel. Overall, while the film may have skimp on some important details which the book had, this rendition by David Fincher is pretty damn close to perfection and we couldn't ask for more.

Rating: 4 and a half reels

Why you should watch it:
- superb acting from the leads
- this film adaptation captures the unique story-telling that the book uses
- outstanding cinematography and music

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- the novel is still the better and more complete rendition

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