One of my favorite movies of 2014

Rating: 10/10 (11 November 2014)

"Gone Girl" is the most exciting thriller I've seen in a long time. I'll be shocked if it doesn't end up my 2014 "Top 10" list. Before you go see this one, you better apply ample amounts of deodorant because it is the kind of movie that will shake you and make you sweat, a lot. It begins on a strange evening. Nick (Ben Affleck) and his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) are celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary, but when Nick gets home, his wife is not there. The front door is open and there are signs of a struggle inside. In the ensuing media frenzy, the public fall in love with Amy and everyone frantically searches for her. With all eyes turned towards him Nick begins acting suspiciously, or at least not the way that the media thinks he should be acting. The media turns on him in an ever increasingly torturous descent filled with devastating revelations.
"Gone Girl" is filled with so many twists and turns that I'm not going to be able to tell you much about the plot, but I can tell you what my viewing experience was like. Imagine that you are walking down a dark alley in a seedy part of town. You see someone hurriedly running through. Out of their pocket a ticket falls out. You pick it up and on it reads "The most dazzling show on earth! Unforgettable! It will shake you to your core!" You notice the price on the ticket reads $100 and that the show is nearby. You yell out to the stranger, but they are already long gone, so go take a look. Inside is a massive amphitheater, but only a few people are attending. None are in the front row and everyone seems to be keeping to themselves. You sit down and notice that the stage is set up like a magic show. A nervous-looking man enters, fitted with a straight jacket and led by a beautiful femme-fatale-looking assistant. He is thrown head-first through three rings of fire and into a glass coffin. The coffin is slowly being filled with acid while walls adorned with spikes begin closing in. You're awfully excited to see how this guy is going to get out of it when you hear a blood-curdling scream in the row behind you. Someone has fainted. You ask yourself why a show this grandiose and elaborate isn't being attended by more people. Then it dawns on you that maybe there's a reason that guy in the alley was running so quickly. Maybe the gentleman who has been thrown into a seemingly escape-proof solution isn't meant to escape at all...
That's what this movie is like. It's a nightmare that scares you but is addictive so you can't turn away. You see our main character getting into a situation that just keeps getting worse and worse. Sometimes it's his own fault, sometimes it isn't. It would be a dreadful, depressing experience if it wasn't for two things. The first is that there is a way out of this, or at least in theory there is. You don't quite understand what happened here, but you know that it's only a matter of time before this whole thing blows over and our hero sets the record straight... right? The second is the mystery. What did happen? Where did Amy go? What part did Nick have in her disappearance, if any? Who is responsible, and why? As the film plays out, you will be treated to one devastating and head-spinning revelation after another. Every time you think you have something figured out, a new wrench is thrown in the mechanism and it begins to crumble all over again. To give it a whole new level of intensity, the film is incredibly realistic and air-tight in its developments. The characters feel genuine and have real depth to them. The moments of incredible tension are often broken by moments of nervous laughter as the characters involved try to steel themselves against this nightmare they have found themselves in. The script and the story are razor-sharp in their wit and intelligence (Gillian Flynn, the author of the novel did an incredible job). As an added bonus, the performances are super intense. I have unfortunately come to associate Tyler Perry with wooden performances, unless he's in a dress, but he is very good in this film. Everyone is really good in this film in fact. You will see the cast list at the beginning of the movie and you will barely be able to recognize some of the actors because the roles and performances they are showing off here are unlike anything you've seen before. I also really admire the score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who did a terrific job in David Fincher's "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and once again amplify the eerie and tense atmosphere of the film without distracting you from the action or resorting to cheap musical cues.
This film lasts over two hours and it left me wanting more. I didn't see the time fly by at all because it is never slow. In fact, it only gets more intense as the minutes tick by. And that ending... absolutely perfect. I was all sweaty, nervous and fearful when I left the theater, even though I had a friend to reassure me that everything was going to be perfectly safe. I don't know what else I can tell you about this film. I give it my highest recommendation. There is a reason why every time I went to check this one out at the theater, it was full to the brim. This time, I decided to bite the bullet and grab some crappy seats near the front just so I could finally see it. It was worth it. "Gone Girl" is so intense that I absolutely have to watch it again, and soon. (Theatrical version on the big screen, October 18, 2014)