A refreshing thriller of a film

Rating: 8/10 (6 October 2014)

A story about a man who comes home to his wife missing to then being made a prime suspect for her murder could make a predictable and forgettable film or an intriguing and refreshing film that is Gone Girl. David Fincher's thriller is easily one of the best we have seen this year. The film is visually stunning where Fincher's dedication to detail can be seen even as the opening credits role with the perfect sync of the shots and score settling you into a mysterious and edgy setting.
Expect nominations for screenplay as the dialogue is excellent. Being the author of the original bestseller herself, Gillian Flynn is the most obvious and perfect candidate for the screenplay. Something unfortunately we do not see enough of in films based off of books. The dialogue was in no way boring and every character was relevant and someone of meaning to the story.
I had honestly never heard of Rosamund Pike before this film. I briefly remember her delivering an average performance in Jack Reacher, but I had no idea what she would bring to this film. It's safe to say she greatly exceeded my expectations. Easily a nomination worthy performance as she forces the audience to love 'Amazing Amy' to then profoundly despise her.
Ben Affleck again putting another stamp on his soaring turn around of a career. A character one could easily over do, Affleck keeps a turn down and humble approach to his performance making Nick Dunne a realistic and very relate-able character.
Tyler Perry a great comedic relief for this intense thriller of a film. His presence brings great light and shade.
With such an intense and vigorous relationship between Nick and Amy it was really nice that the film showed a lot of the brother-sister relationship between Nick Dunne and Margo Dunne. Carrie Coon also another great comedic relief to the film, another realistic portrayal. Another aspect Fincher managed to accomplish was the balance of intensity and humor within this rather dark story. There always needs to be a break in the intensity and drama not simply for entertainment but to also make the story realistic as no one can be as seriously driven and dramatic all the time.
Unfortunately I have to say that the character of Amy Dunne's high school stalker Desi played by Neil Patrick Harris looks to be a miscast. The man has amazing talents, however just wasn't believable to be this creepy and almost disturbing character in such an intense film. It just didn't seem to work and is one of my negatives for this film.
Another negative that really bothered me was the ending. This film is almost 3 hours long, and while at any point it doesn't slow down or become uninteresting, the ending could of been cut shorter. You could guess that the film would most likely end in an abrupt way and the films conclusion or "aftermath" continuously kept delivering those moments for it to then continue on. While doing this it just kept you reaching for that carrot and by the end you still hadn't got it. It does however do still leave you questioning not just the ending but the themes and message within the film. Very much so a thought provoking story.
Overall Gone Girl is a refreshing and enticing film that is one worth seeing. It's very hard to overcome the difficult prospect of "reinventing" the mystery/crime/thriller genre with the film keeping you guessing through and even beyond exiting the theater. The plots twists and turns were very well done and not at all predictable.