Another David Fincher winner and one of the year's best

Rating: 9/10 (4 October 2014)

David Fincher to me is one of the most talented directors around today, and while Se7en from personal opinion is his best film Gone Girl is up there with his best. Fincher directs with his usual superb class, giving the film great style and keeping the story alive(Gone Girl is easily one of the year's best directed films), and the whole film looks absolutely great with brooding lighting that evokes the creepy atmosphere brilliantly and Gone Girl is also a film that makes good use of digital, after seeing many directors over-using or cheapening it it was refreshing to see the technique done with taste. Trent Rezner and Atticus Ross's music score gives the film a haunting vibe and adds much to the unsettling intensity that a lot of the film(at least two-thirds worth), managing to not do it in an in-your-face manner. The use of sound mixing was interesting and came off cleverly, almost like a distant thought process. Gone Girl also has a brilliantly written and adapted script that does a great job balancing dark humour- that's not overused and is often hilarious- and suspense mystery (The Cool Girl monologue in particular is a masterpiece of script-writing, one of my favourite film monologues ever), while the story(apart from taking a bit of time to get starting) is absorbing from start to finish, rich in detail and characterisation and is filled with shocks and unpredictable twists that will be guaranteed to leave you reeling. That it is adapted from superb source material(one of the best books I've read in recent memory actually) helps it, and that it is faithful to it is commendable, a case of being faithful to the source material actually coming off wonders rather than being bogged down by being too faithful. The not-what-they-seem characters are incredibly interesting and richly developed, especially Amy who is one of the most chilling female characters of the year. And the acting is one of the high points of the film, as good as Fincher's direction and the score are it's Rosamund Pike's knockout turn as Amy in restrained- she only has to raise an eyebrow or something like that and it says a lot- but quite terrifying mode(especially in the third act) that makes the film. It will be a great surprise if she isn't at least nominated because it is easily her best performance. Ben Affleck has the other not-what-they-seem role and plays it with oozing charm and brooding intensity, while Neil Patrick Harris surprisingly excels in a very against-type role(who knew he could be sinister?) and Tyler Perry oozes charisma and is very funny. Carrie Coon is the standout in support, it's a tricky role and the moral compass of the film but Coon is touchingly likable in it. The ending does for my liking end too suddenly and the storytelling got implausible and lazy at this point, but apart from that Gone Girl was a winner and one of the best of the year. 9/10 Bethany Cox