Movie Review: What’s The Big Deal About David Fincher’s “Gone Girl”

“Gone Girl,” a popular novel by Gillian Flynn turned film directed by David Fincher, has been one of the most anticipated films of the year. I didn’t read the book but after I saw the trailer for the film I was convinced I wanted to see it. I love a good crime thriller.

I wasn’t able to see the film opening weekend so I waited until discount day at my local theater which was today. I made sure to keep away from all message boards about the film until I got to see what everyone was talking about for myself.

To give a bit of background info; Ben Affleck plays Nick Dunne, the husband of Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike), who is caught in a media storm when his wife mysteriously goes missing on their fifth wedding anniversary. He becomes the prime suspect, but everything isn’t what it appears.

Many are comparing the good elements in the book to what was portrayed in the live action, but all I can give is my opinion on the research I did about the novel and actually seeing “Gone Girl.” Like the book, the film goes back and forth between telling the story through Nick’s point of view and Amy’s. From what the audience is seeing, Amy is a loving housewife who wants the world with her husband while Nick is angry and fed up.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD: DO NOT CONTINUE READING IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW SPECIFIC PLOT LINES OF THE FILM!!

On the morning of the couple’s anniversary, everything seems normal and Nick goes to the bar he owns in his hometown with his twin sister Margo (Carrie Coon). Returning home after a neighbor calls him to inform him of something wrong with his house, the cat was outside, Nick discovers his wife is not home and there is a wrecked table in the living room. Clearly signs of foul play has gone on in the house. Reporting it to police, Nick becomes a prime suspect when Detective Rhonda Boney (Kim Dickens) finds blood splatter in the kitchen and other “clues” come to light incriminating Nick as a murderer.

Long story short Nick was cheating on Amy and ready to divorce her, but Amy decided to get back at him for changing so much during their marriage that she staged her murder to frame her husband. She decides to come back home after seeing an interview of her husband on TV where he was like the man she fell in love with; only after killing her former lover Desi (Neil Patrick Harris) who she says kidnapped and tortured her. Amy is a sociopath who manipulates everyone around her. What’s even crazier is Nick stays with Amy at the end of the film because she ends up pregnant and now Nick is genuinely afraid for his life.

I will say Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike did AH-MAZ-ING jobs as their characters especially Pike. I’ve seen her in one film, “Surrogates,” but barely remember her but that she looked really pretty in that film. In “Gone Girl,” Pike stole the show for me. She played crazy so well and I believed her performance. Watching her on screen was captivating especially when she “returns” home.

One thing I didn’t like about “Gone Girl,” and probably the only thing I didn’t like, was that it was too long. At first I thought it had a good pace; wife goes missing, did the husband kill her, let’s figure this thing out. But it was extremely drawn out and I found myself drifting off a bit. To wrap things up I didn’t get the big deal about “Gone Girl,” but it was a good movie.

I give “Gone Girl” Four Sparkles

If you saw “Gone Girl” or read the Gillian Flynn novel, please let me know your thoughts in the comments. Until then watch the trailer for “Gone Girl” below.

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Photo: Twentieth Century Fox