Gone Girl

My Grade:  A

David Fincher is one of my favorite directors. I have enjoyed most of his filmography except for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Also, Fight Club and The Social Network are a couple of my all time favorites. I guess I need to see Panic Room as it’s the only one I haven’t seen.

Anyway, let’s get to his most recent offering:  Gone Girl. I was wary of this one because of some of the casting choices. I have never been a fan of Ben Affleck as an actor. Even  in the movies he’s in that I like, I never really liked him in them. I love him as a director, though! Then there’s Tyler Perry. I couldn’t believe Perry found himself in a David Fincher film. I was borderline upset because I have seen snippets of Madea movies and that actor doesn’t deserve to work with a master such as Fincher. Well, thankfully, both of these men proved me wrong.

Gone Girl is adapted from a highly acclaimed novel which I have not read, so every twist and turn hit me fresh. And oh what a twisting and turning journey it is. It is about Nick Dunne (Affleck) who becomes the focus of a media circus when his wife (Rosamund Pike) goes missing. He enlists the help of cocky, high profile defense attorney, Tanner Bolt (Tyler Perry) to help him work through this trying situation. He also has his twin sister (Carrie Coon) for moral support. Then, other stuff happens which I can’t talk about without spoiling anything.

This is simply a great piece of dark, moody filmmaking that sprints through its 149 minute run time and leaves you guessing until the very end. It’s a taut thriller of the highest order crafted by the deft hand of a director at the top of his game. He owes a lot of the storytelling success to the writer of the novel and screenplay, Gillian Flynn. This is her first screenwriting credit and it’s impressive. The dialogue is sharp and witty with bits of dark humor thrown in at just the right times and I can’t think of a single scene that goes on too long or seems unnecessary.

The acting is also superb and, I never thought I would write this sentence:  I loved Tyler Perry in this film. Wow. I can’t believe I wrote that, but it’s true. He was perfectly cast and absolutely kills it as Tanner Bolt. Ben Affleck even impressed me. His role doesn’t actually require a lot of emotion for most of the film but he brings a vulnerability to Dunne that is necessary so we can empathize with him even though it seems he may have murdered his wife. The standout, though, is Rosamund Pike. There’s nothing to say about her performance as Amy Dunne other than it’s brilliant. She will scare you and make you feel for her, then scare you again, then make you hate her. All in a single scene. It’s powerful stuff.

The only casting issue is Neil Patrick Harris as Amy’s ex, Desi. He plays a rich boy with attachment issues and is supposed to be creepy. But, he’s still Neil Patrick Harris. It’s not his fault that I laughed when he appeared on screen. He plays his part very well. But he’s still Neil Patrick Harris. Unfortunately, he is simply too charismatic for this role and probably shouldn’t have been cast in it.

Finally, I would be remiss to not mention the haunting score that inches its way under your skin by capturing the sick mood of every last frame. Trent Reznor (with Atticus Ross) has worked with Fincher on other films like The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and they are a match made in movie heaven. Nobody else could capture the mood of Fincher’s films like Reznor. My friend wrote on Twitter that “no two people were ever made for each other like Fincher and Reznor.” I agree completely.

Overall, Gone Girl certainly lives up to the huge hype. That doesn’t happen very often but, when it does, it’s magical. This film will also make you question some things about marriage and relationships but won’t tell you what to think. That deeper aspect makes it an even better piece of filmmaking that will go down as one of the best movies of the modern era.