MINI-REVIEW: Gone Girl

MOVIE
Gone Girl

CAST
Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike

RATING
R

RELEASE
October 3, 2014

DIRECTOR
David Fincher

STUDIO
20th Century Fox

RUNNING TIME
2 hours 29 minutes







STARS
***3/4








REVIEW:

"Gone Girl" is like a fishing rod: it hooks you in with its director, cast, and story, and then it keeps pulling and pulling and pulling until it has you in its clutches.  That is only the first 90 or so minutes of the film, as the next hour continues to take you, broil you up, put you on a nice plate, and then eats your mind up for dinner.  Whether that last bit is a good thing or not depends on the person, but it does end up leaving an impact on the viewer to say the least.  Author Gillian Flynn adapted her book into this film's screenplay, and the basic premise is that a wife goes missing and the husband soon becomes accused of carrying the crime out.  The question at hand is whether or not he did it, but I won't answer that at all.  I will say this, though: "Gone Girl" is a brilliant movie, filled with superb performances and a sharp script filled with twists, suspense, and even some dark humor.  Why I can't give this a perfect score, though, is due to two things: the ending of the film and the fact that I didn't fully resonate with it.  Other than that, this is pretty much another David Fincher work of art.

If you had any doubts that Ben Affleck would be a great Batman, then here is proof that he is more than qualified for the role as The Caped Crusader.  A lot of people might be talking about how amazing Rosamund Pike's performance, and believe me she is also great here, but to me Affleck impressed more because he showed just how capable he is as a serious actor.  I give him more credit for being able to use his directing abilities to try to find the best performance in himself while working for someone as talented as David Fincher.  Another real surprise for me here came in the form of Tyler Perry.  Despite mostly having his "Madea" films to back his career up, Perry proves here that he can actually give a really good performance if he worked with other talented directors once in a while.  Neil Patrick Harris was fine here, but to me, he felt a bit out of place and seemed a bit too much like a stalker version of his character on "How I Met Your Mother."  There aren't any bad performances here at all, but for me the two standouts were Affleck and Perry.

Fincher and Flynn work together hand in hand on this film, with Fincher managing to get the best performances out of his actors and the most suspense out of his film entirely and Flynn giving the movie the twists and turns that keeps it engaging.  Aside from the ending, which I found to be anticlimactic and just not the way I had hoped for it to end, "Gone Girl" is overall a great movie.  The film is darkly funny, suspenseful all around, and has some of the best twists that you'll see in any film this year.  It might not be in my top 10 of the year at the moment, but I can't deny how well the film is directed and written.  Some may not enjoy this film as much as I, and those who have read the book may complain about some of the changes that were made.  Having not read the book itself, I can only judge from the 2 and a half hour flick that I saw, and wouldn't you know it, this is a movie I'd highly recommend checking out.  This is especially something to check out if you're in to the whole "Oscar Season" fad that goes on every fall.




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