It Must Be Cold in Hell

Rating: 10/10 (2 October 2014)

David Fincher knows how to pick his choices for movies. He's gone from the nightmarish but brilliant "Se7en", the puzzling "The Game", and list goes on and on, but nothing will prepare you for the sharp portrayal by Rosalind Pike of the fantastic character that is the heart of "Gone Girl". Throughout the film, she shines, radiating this cool, cold beauty, matched only by the cold design of her intellect and the execution of the movie.
At first, I thought having Affleck play her counterpart was one humongous mistake, but it actually works well because Affleck's range gives him enough room for us not believe that he can never be a match for her. It's obvious from the beginning that he is nothing else but another step on her way to something much bigger and better. Yes, there are a few seconds when we think it is possible to up her game, but if that were to happen, it would feel like cheating. It's nature game that it's the survival of the fittest, and if he is to make it, it's not going to be her choice. In fact, I think it's pretty courageous of Fincher that the film ends the way it does.
Everyone involved in the film is fantastic since they're not afraid to show their flaws, their doubts, the fact that it's after all, a cold and unsympathetic world. We never root for anyone because we're surrounded by vultures, ready to prey on the leftover of the other vultures. Children are nowhere to be seen, except for a couple of shots where they hurriedly leave the scene. If anything, they are weapons to trap and destroy your opponent or worse, they're to be used in order achieve bigger goals.
A man soon becomes the presumed guilty party in the disappearance of his wife, a woman who is seen by many as a stranger and difference creature. She is after all, from New York, and this is a small town where affairs happen, but murder is just something else. The rope gets tighter and tighter, and we have no other expectations that the mystery will be solved and Affleck will get his due. Before the deal is done, the first of the unexpected turns happens, and designs change because of fate. Here is where everything we think is coming takes a completely different spin, but the tone and the mood remains.
This is where the cool beauty of Pike gives way to her cool mind, and things become uglier as we discover what is really going, and how she is one of the most resourceful people here. It becomes clear that it would take a miracle to upset the natural order of things, and the realization is not how it will end, just bad the ending will be.
I overheard some people walking out of the theater expressing disappointment, but that only made me realize, how well the resolution is executed because this is after a work of art that has taken plenty of chances both in its written source and the translation to the cinema. Unlike "Tattoo" where emotional involvement went subzero in its American adaptation, this one maintains its rotten heart beating quite strongly. There is not much affection or happiness involved. This is not a movie about love, but a movie about how dark human nature can be. There is very little bloodshed because even the big scene is meticulously executed, almost begging to be admired rather than for shocking purposes. Sharon Stone's character in "Basic Instinct" would be a mere apprentice if she hanged around the characters in this movie.
Behind the camera and in absolute control is Fincher who manages to give Missouri and the Mississippi a cold, gray and steely look and feel that has probably not been seen before. It's an incisive look at how humans really behave when the fantasies of love go away for whatever reason that might be.