Movie Review : Gone Girl (2014)
I used to be the dumbest fucking kid around girls. My dating philosophy used to be: make no efforts and you'll find a woman who loves you for who you really are. No need to tell you what kind of person it attracted before I won the lottery with Josie. Perception is everything. First impressions make or break relationships. Maybe it's a little depressing, but it's a fascinating issue for storytellers to explore. Gone Girl, David Fincher's movie adaptation of Gillian Flynn's best selling novel, is a psychological thriller that explores the art of perception and storytelling, particularly the sometimes insidious way media can distort a story. It's also fucking twisted, scary and controversial for certain viewers.
I wouldn't call Gone Girl a groundbreaking, but it's an original take on a dog-tired genre and a quite visceral experience.Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike) disappears on the morning of her fifth wedding anniversary, leaving her husband Nick (Ben Affleck) confused and worried. Tragedy seem to have struck the perfect heartland couple, but the missing investigation unveils the many shortcomings of their marriage and soon enough, Nick becomes the prime suspect.
In the meantime, Amy's journal entries take us through the slow and painful downfall of their wedding, up to the point where Amy starts fearing for her security. There is no body, no murder weapon and a laughably clumsy ''murder scene'', yet all the circumstantial clues seem to point to murder. Only problem is that the story is even more complex and deceptive than it is.
David Fincher used to be a somewhat daring high profile director. He's turned intelligent material into blockbuster movies and contributed in modernizing the gritty aesthetic. His influence is still palpable in the way we do movies now. He's settled in a comfort zone for the last decade or so, though: trademark color palette, slick storytelling and smart, careful casting. Gone Girl is another one of these undoubtedly competent thrillers that are short on surprise, visually speaking. Its most daring aspect I though was the casting of several actors that are difficult to use properly, such as Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike and Tyler Perry.
Fincher manages to get the best of them, which is no small feat.
Rosamund Pike, who I have called talentless in the past, shines here through details as precise as her eye color. That's the level of attention to detail David Fincher has. Pike was a risky choice though and she proves to be stiff when her part requires more textured work, such as emotional manipulation. Overall though, I'm not afraid to call this the best performance of her career and by far. Neil Patrick Harris was an interesting casting choice too, but his character was too close form the immortal Barney Stinson for him to have a chance to stand out. Gotta appreciate Fincher's thinking and risk taking with his cast though.
Allegedly, the shot that landed Ben Affleck the part.
What I liked the most about Gone Girl though is the portrayal of the media. The movie (well, originally the novel) is a study on the power of perception, but I thought it highlighted the way media can alter the course of anything, in this case a missing person investigation. It's difficult not to spoil anything here, but Gone Girl was originally thought and plotting with the media in mind, which are used by many characters to position one another legally.The story as a media construction and how it influences popular opinion and ultimately shapes the truth is what makes Gone Girl original. Remove that variable and you're left with a woman-in-jeopardy thriller that's dark, complex and well-written, but that doesn't really stand out from a genre that's been done to death.
For the longest time, I thought I had been spoiled the ending of Gone Girl. Truth was, the plot twist I was spoiled is right in the middle of the movie, so I've spent the latter half in a state of paranoid freakout. The plot is clever, subtle and undoubtedly well-written, but you have Gillian Flynn to thank for this, rather than David Fincher. Gone Girl has been hit-or-miss with the audiences. Some people complained that it was another movie about white people problem. Others thought the premise was simply too outrageous to work. I liked it. I thought it was smart thriller that used variables like the media, in a way no other story ever did it before.
Whether you like it or not, Gone Girl is not a movie you'll feel mildly about. It was a little stiff and outlandish at times, but I'm a sucker for whatever explores the heart of darkness and Gone Girl gets the job done in that regard.
