Fincher's adaptation of Flynn's novel enthrals and engrosses. Just don't get ideas.

Rating: 8/10 (16 October 2014)

On their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) arrives home to find signs of a struggle and that his wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), is missing. The police are suspicious because it looks all too convenient and there seems to be more to it than Nick is letting on. Nick's portrayal of a blissful marriage is a little frayed around the edges and he is facing a trial by media. Is the woman who, as a child, inspired her parents' Amazing Amy stories and became America's darling, really missing or did secretive Nick murder her?
Adapted by Gillian Flynn from her own bestseller, Gone Girl is quite simply a triumph. I read the novel a year ago and it quickly ranked as my book of the month. As I wrote at the time, I saw much of the plot twists and turns a mile off but it was so well crafted that it did little to spoil the enjoyment. Inevitably, sitting in a dark cinema, I knew exactly what was coming but, again, the pleasure of watching it unfold before me was complete, if a churning stomach and the vague feeling of sickening dread is enjoyment.
When the author of the source material writes a film adaptation, there is no excuse for clumsy changes and Flynn has avoided them, staying remarkable true to her novel. Because of this, it jars all the more that Gone Girl is rated 18. The novel didn't require it and the film earns it probably due to a brief exchange of particularly harsh sexual expletives that Flynn has thrown in to guarantee the adult rating. It was a decent enough thriller without the needless, very self-conscious step and I rather suspect the hand of director David Fincher in this.
It is a small quibble (along with the character who appears to have ballooned in the space of just a few days) in what is yet another exceptionally fine film from the ever-reliable Fincher. He knows how to wring out the suspense and ramp up the anticipation, almost causing the viewer to yell at the screen "What the?"
Gone Girl is situation horror at its finest. While unlikely to happen to us, Flynn has devised a plot that is plausible enough to scare the heck out of us and Fincher takes the situation and pummels us with it so that we feel utterly powerless. My cinema viewing has taken a hit in the past few months (paying the rent while publishing a book can do that to you) and it was fantastic to find myself completely immersed in a film again.
The resurrection of Ben Affleck is complete. After the dark years of Beniffer, Holywoodland reassured the few who watched it, The Town and Argo stamped his credibility across the globe and Gone Girl places him firmly back in the A-list of leading men. It is a creditable performance as a man lost in the quagmire of hidden truths, dark lies and bending under the weight of judgment and persecution from the police, the public, the media and even his family.
Whilst Rosamund Pike absolutely holds her own and her star is slowly ascending (after the likes of A Long Way Down, The World's End and Jack Reacher), I'm still not entirely sure about her performance. This is a better performance and a far better film the afore mentioned, but the variation in her Amy just isn't there. As her arc (told frequently in flashback) develops, so should our understanding of her but from their first meeting, at a party, I found myself asking what Nick saw in her. She doesn't come across as terribly genuine or particularly pleasant and yet Nick is bowled over by her.
That said, as Gone Girl progresses and we see and learn more, Pike convinces more completely and her interaction with the obsessive old flame, Desi (Neil Patrick Harris), is enough to unnerve and, eventually, cause temporary revulsion.
At a little under two and a half hours, Gone Girl flows rapidly and smoothly, consuming the minutes while it thoroughly engrosses the viewer. It was one of the most imaginative novels of 2012 and is sure to be regarded as one of the most enthralling films of this year.
But perhaps think twice before taking your spouse. S/he just might get ideas.
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