I'll attempt to make this as spoiler-free a summary as possible. Just know that if you haven't yet read Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl novel, then you should stop reading this review right now, reconsider your life choices and then go buy/borrow a copy.
Seriously, it's a great book that's translated into an equally brilliant film.
Anyone nervous about an adaptation of Gone Girl needs only to heed this advice: trust in Flynn. The author has practically adapted the screenplay for this neo-noir movie verbatim from the pages of her own source text, but that's not what makes this new version great.
Performances are spot on, and the pacing makes the film feel an hour shorter than its listed 2 hour-29 minute running time. Coincidentally, Gone Girl also happens to be perfect material for director David Fincher (Fight Club, The Social Network).
To get a sense of what the audience is in for, the tone is set with some creepy opening lines from Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck). Something to the effect of "when I think of my wife, I always think of her head. I picture cracking it open, unspooling her brains just to answer the question: 'what do you think about?'"
From there, we get a bleak tale about a perfect marriage gone so sour that accusations of abuse, neglect, rape and possibly murder run rampant throughout national media. With the police and the general public against him, the typically callow Nick is forced to change his nonchalant tune after the disappearance of his beautiful wife Amy (Rosamund Pike).
The disappearance/kidnapping angle has been done a thousand times in movies and on television. Prisoners is a recent example of just how intense and terrifying this concept can be when executed properly. Gone Girl takes a bit of a different angle, which is what makes the story so great.
As Entertainment Weekly's Chris Nashawaty put it, "the movie asks: How much did Nick know about his wife? But what it's really asking the audience is: How much do any of us know about our partners?" Tasty food for thought and discussion once the mystery unfolds before us.
Affleck is a guy that people love to hate, but his turn as Nick may be the most nuanced performance of his career. If trusted to other hands, this character might've come off too smarmy, but Affleck plays it with a cool, collected, everyman charm that makes his Nick believable.
Concerns have been raised in the past about the relatively untested Pike, but her turn as Amy catapults her straight into both the A-list and early Oscar discussions. Much of the tension comes from these two leads teetering on the brink of insanity, like two volcanoes about to erupt on each other, and Pike and Affleck play it so perfectly, so restrained, that it's difficult to picture anyone else succeeding so wonderfully in these parts.
Fincher orchestrates the action beautifully. This is the guy who made a movie about Facebook feel more gripping than a dozen summer superhero blockbusters. He adds to his ever-growing list of masterpieces by bringing to life a labyrinthine noir that Hitchcock would've been proud of.
Though the ending may not sit well with everyone (it was my only major gripe about the book), fans of Flynn's novel should be thoroughly pleased. More casual moviegoers will enjoy a dark, heady mystery with terrific performances and deft direction. Likely the most well-rounded, well-crafted studio thriller of the year.
A
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