Stays a touch too faithful to the book

Rating: 8/10 (2 October 2014)

Let me start by saying I'm a huge fan of the novel 'Gone Girl'. It's one of the best I've read in years and renewed my faith that it was still possible to write a clever, surprising and original thriller. Obviously having enjoyed the book so much I was glad to find out it was being adapted into a film. If at that point I had been asked the question, "what's one thing you'd like to see changed from the book to the movie?" I would have said the ending.
Now it's not that I didn't like the book's ending, it was simply a case of not being able to imagine that ending being satisfactory in the film version of the story. Doing some reading a few months out from the films release I was ecstatic to read in the trivia section on IMDb this: "Gillian Flynn, author of the novel the film is based upon, wrote the screenplay with a different ending to keep readers interested in the film version, and viewers from getting spoiled." I got straight to thinking what should be the ending and to my surprise I had a tough time coming up with anything at all, let alone something deserving of ending this wonderful story. Sadly Gillian Flynn must have found the same thing as me (and what I read in the trivia section must gotten lost in translation), because I was very disappointed to find out tonight that the ending really hadn't been changed at all.
The ending aside however, this is a wonderfully made film. David Fincher always creates such perfect, seamless films that are a pleasure to watch and this one is no exception. I wouldn't say it's quite as dark as some of his previous work or as the trailers might have you believe, but there is one scene in particular that seemed to have a lot of the female audience members squirming in their seats. Those who have read the book will probably be able to guess which one it is.
The acting is nothing short of superb. I would not be at all surprised if both Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike receive Academy Award nominations for their performances. Affleck probably has the easier of the two roles but still manages to find that perfect balance between being an utterly unlikeable dirt bag and being the guy you're still rooting for things to work out well for in the end. I wasn't completely sold on Pike's performance until the final third of the film when she really kicked things up a gear and became mesmerising. It was the role of a life time and she nailed it.
Overall 'Gone Girl' is a brilliant film but I can't help feeling that's mostly just because the book itself was so good. It just seems to me you're not getting a different enough experience between reading the book and watching the film. Other than that the only other thing I could fault it on would be the run time. Shaving 10-20 minutes off it may have helped appeal to a few more people. Those two points aside though it's a great ride and a title we'll hear mentioned a lot during award season.