Exceeds the established expectations of crime thrillers.

Rating: Null/10 (18 October 2014)

Gillian Flynn published a book titled "Gone Girl" in 2012, which soared to the New York Times bestseller lists, captivated critics, and invigorated audiences across America. As anyone would assume from the commercialized system of entertainment, "Gone Girl" was developed into a motion picture. Flynn wisely adapted her own novel into the screenplay, and director David Fincher accepted the mission of satisfying the zealous fans of the novel. Thankfully, Fincher has been successful in making a movie that will permeate through cinemas just as the novel did through bookshelves.
On their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) returns to their quiet suburban home in Missouri to find his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) has vanished from their home and the only clue left to her disappearance is a messy crime scene suggesting a struggle. Did Nick kill his wife? Is he holding her hostage? Was Amy murdered by someone else? If so, then by whom? These are the questions that plague police, reporters, and spectators when assessing Nick's apathetic attitude to the situation and the contradictory evidence that emerges.
The first act of "Gone Girl" is told from two different perspectives: an objective view of Nick dealing with ramifications of Amy's disappearance and a subjective telling of the love story before Amy went missing, told from Amy's perspective via her diaries. The film functions sufficiently through this period, sometimes it even transcends, but the sharp turn "Gone Girl" takes in its second act discombobulates the viewer. Subsequently the film prospers. By act three, "Gone Girl" pushes every boundary imaginable, and the final turn of events will not abate from your mind for hours after leaving the cinema.
Within the spear-edged twists of the screenplay lies a mordant stand on probing themes of husband and wife dynamics, marriage deceit, and the fabrication of ideas of being a "celebrity." One of Amy's first diary entries begins with Amy underlining this sentence: "Marriage is hard work." "Gone Girl" asks the question in the most extreme case scenario, do any of us truly know the person who sleeps next to us? The screenplay presents its leading characters in a reticent way, both guarded and unwilling to compromise. The strength of this approach supplies the film with depth because neither character is entirely sympathetic, both have their explicit flaws, and each are mired together in marital issues beyond repair.
David Fincher directs "Gone Girl" with the same storytelling standard he has brought to "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "The Social Network," "Zodiac," and "Se7en." There is no question who made this film. Fincher's lark auteur touches are on maximum display in "Gone Girl," and are just as crafty as ever. He adorns his take on the heralded novel with his typical, but ever so effective, scratching, toned score and somber darkly-lit cinematography.
Everyone seeing "Gone Girl" is probably familiar with Ben Affleck in some capacity. He's swell as Nick Dunne. However, most people seeing "Gone Girl" are probably inexperienced with the British actress Rosamund Pike, but after seeing this film, everyone will know her name. Not only does she have one of the most tremendously written female characters in recent years, but she performs it without a blemish. Pike is eager to summon the terrifying Amy Dunne, and the product is a bravura piece of acting.
If you have never taken any of my opinions on film seriously before, take this one. I plead that you see "Gone Girl" because it is a cinematic experience that needs to be lived. The echelon of talent from Fincher, Affleck, Pike, Flynn, Jeff Cronenweth, (the cinematographer), Kirk Baxter (the film editor), Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (the composers) make this an inconceivably good film, which exceeds the established expectations of crime thrillers.
* * * * / * * * *
Grade: A