This autumns most anticipated thriller Gone Girl is finally here and it doesn’t disappoint. Adapted by the author herself, Gillian Flynn has turned her bestseller successfully into a Hollywood blockbuster.
On their fifth year wedding anniversary Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) arrives home to find his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) has disappeared. He calls the police assuming someone broke in and abducted her, but as the investigation unfolds things just don’t add up.
Detectives Boney (Kim Dickens) and Gilpin (Patrick Fugit) soon change the investigation from abduction to murder and Nick becomes their main suspect.
However the police aren’t the only ones watching Nick’s every move, the media is all too present, dissecting his every gesture and creating a modern day witch-hunt.
As the story unfolds, with many twists, turns and surprises, we learn through flashbacks, narrated by Amy herself, all about how Nick and Amy met, fell passionately in love and had to leave their lives in New York behind and help Nick’s mother unsuccessfully fight cancer.
But things aren’t as they seem as Gone Girl play’s with perspective and the situation looks very different from Nick’s point of view. His problem is: will anyone believe him?
With the media showing the world what they think, Margo’s (Carrie Coon) unwavering belief in her twin brother Nick and an obscure treasure hunt supplying some answers, it isn’t surprising the Gone Girl keeps its viewer enthralled and highly entertained.
Both the well constructed script by Gillian Flynn and the direction provided by director David Fincher successfully manage the delicate balancing act between too much and too little information, unbalancing their audience at the perfect moment.
As further the story unravels the more bizarre the film becomes, but in a very enticing and captivating way. A lot of this great entertainment is down to the main actors; Affleck is both sympathetic and highly suspicious as husband Nick, and Pike is one-dimensional when needed and vindictively complex when called for.
Even the side characters lend both humour and interest to the film: Neil Patrick Harris is fantastically creepy as Amy’s high school stalker boyfriend, Tyler Perry says exactly what the audience is thinking as a high-powered lawyer who made a name for himself defending murderous husbands and Missi Pyle is perfect as a talk-show host with a piranha-esque bite and smile.
But what is really surprising about Gone Girl is the unique look it takes at society, class and agendas, how happiness turns into ruins, how lies, deceit and the ever-present media form and destroy perceptions, even when the truth seems more obvious – and it’s funny! At times so much so that there are laugh out loud moments, but don’t think you’ll leave the cinema with a giggle, your head may be spinning a little, you’ll feel a little confused, a “what the f***” may not be too far from your lips and you’ll definitely be thinking about Gone Girl for a while.
Overall Gone Girl and David Fincher have achieved something rare, a hyped up film that lives up to its promises.