Did he or did he not?

Rating: 8/10 (15 November 2014)

"Gone Girl" is one of the big blockbusters from 2014 (which is pretty much a given as it was directed by David Fincher). It was adapted by Gillian Flynn from her own novel. I was not entirely sure if I would give this film a 3/5 or a 4/5, but finally went for the latter as, despite its massive length of 2.5 hours, it never dragged the slightest. Rosamund Pike seems to be getting lots of awards attention, but I thought Ben Affleck was equally good, maybe even better as he, unlike Pike, was also in it the full first half.
Apart from the dramatic scenes, there was also some much-needed comic relief provided by Tyler Perry and Missy Pyle, especially the latter who displays perfectly the deformity of media these days. The first half was good as you could keep guessing did he kill her or not. The second half succeeded thanks to the constantly new information we found out about the gone girl. The ending felt really unsatisfactory at first, but as I am not a fan of forced happy endings, it has grown on me since then. Sometimes that is just how it goes, although obviously the two will keep clashing with each other and this is gonna be all but a harmonious textbook marriage. No surprise as he is now living with somebody who planned to get him electrocuted and was on a good way. And is a baby, in the 21st century, really reason enough to stay with her?
I have some minor criticisms with the movie, for example that her plan was just too perfect for my taste. Not even the most gifted criminal investigator or forensic analyst could come up with a scheme like this and have it work out exactly the way she wants. So it was a bit nice to see when she did not go the final suicide step or got robbed by the hillbilly couple. If you looked closely enough, there are many well-written scenes. There was one at the beginning that I liked particularly. In a flashback we see Affleck's and Pike's characters tongue-kissing, and right afterward, back in the now, we see a tongue smear taken from Affleck's character. Or notice how the younger cop who keeps suspecting Afflecks character all the time, completely disappears the moment gone girl reappears, for example in the scene where Affleck's character, his sister, the female cop and the lawyer discuss what they can do. So far he has always been there when the female cop, his boss, was around. Carrie Coon, who played the sensible sister, gave a solid performance too. Neil Patrick Harris plays a very interesting character. It is really hard to say if he is dangerous, sad or just a bit creepy like all of us and I still cannot make up my mind. Anyway, he is probably the only thing in the story that gone girl did not lie about.
Finally, I must say I had some trouble with finding the whole thing credible with all its plot twists. I especially struggled with her change in mind from hating him to getting back together with him from the talk show appearance. She is such an intelligent woman and must know that it was probably all staged. Nonetheless, I very much recommend watching this film. Edge-of-seat stuff.