Movie Review: Gone Girl (MA15+)
Thinking person’s thriller a must-watch for 2014
Rating: 8.5/10
There was a good chance I wasn’t going to see this movie in the cinema.
Having never read the novel by Gillian Flynn and not having a whole lot of interest in any of the three genres it straddles — drama, mystery, thriller — there was a good chance I would have waited for the home release.
That would have been a huge mistake.
Despite all those factors working against it, this film well and truly won me over.
All I knew going in was the absolute basics, a man called Nick Dunne arrives home on his fifth wedding anniversary to find a smashed glass table and no sign of his wife, Amy.
Before going any further it has to be said that Ben Affleck was sublime as Nick Dunne.
He brought enough smugness to the role to raise the possibility that he murdered his wife, but tempers it with a defeated, world-weary side in private that makes the audience want to root for him just a little.
A concerned Nick immediately calls the police and the detective in charge of the case decides to forego the typical three-day waiting period for a missing person case and the plot takes off.
What followed was a gripping 149-minute journey through the twists and turns of a broken marriage and the quest for truth, with a few well-placed jabs at the sometimes hysterical nature of mainstream media along the way.
With mounting pressure from the police, local community and the media, cracks start to show in Nick’s facade as the concerned, loving husband.
Freed from the expectations of the novel, all the major twists hit with full force.
Although screenwriter Gillian Flynn changed the ultimate ending to create a sense of suspense for people who read the novel, I think going in with a blank slate made me appreciate the film a lot more than I would have otherwise.
As great as Affleck was, this film wouldn’t have been anywhere as good without the powerhouse performance of Rosamund Pike as Amy Dunne that elicits strong emotional reactions from the viewer.
The often mocked Tyler Perry is likeable as high-profile lawyer Tanner Bolt, juggling cynicism and sincerity as only an attorney who specialises in defending despicable men can.
Neil Patrick Harris shows a different side as stalker Desi Collings and Kim Dickens plays the small-town detective perfectly.
Without giving anything away, there are a few small holes in the plot, but it was only after thorough consideration of the film afterwards that these came to light.
The strength of the film stems from its ability to inspire that sort of attentive examination afterwards and makes it a must-watch film in 2014.
