A ping-pong play at the viewers' assumptions and a sudden slam mid-way through

Rating: 8/10 (12 October 2014)

On their wedding anniversary, Nick finds his wife Amy missing. Investigation indicates she may have been murdered, thus Nick becomes the prime suspect. It gets more incriminating to him with his unfaithfulness and his debt history after both Nick and Amy lost their jobs, thus having to spend Amy's trust fund. The case gains media attention, putting Nick under the spotlight. He hires a lawyer who then coaches him through the public opinion control, and even booked a TV interview to clear his name. Nick's own investigation reveals Amy is a cunning mastermind of framing people. Meanwhile it turns out that Amy is still alive and on the run. She faked her own murder and pregnancy and frame Nick with it to get back to him. She did a very meticulous and thorough job; faking her journal entries, staging her blood spills, stealing a pregnant woman's urine, and even changed her looks to avoid recognition on the run.
She casually watches the media frenzy on Nick and befriended a local girl Greta. But after Amy slipped up, Greta and her boyfriend rob her blind. Penniless, Amy contacted her ex-boyfriend Desi, who still longs for her. With Desi, Amy watched Nick's interview, in which Nick asked Amy to come back home. Some time after, Amy tricks Desi into having sex with her. Amy tells him to go rougher, but as Desi enjoys the moment and is off guard, she slashes his throat. She goes back to Nick, with all the media on them. Amy tells the everybody she went missing because Desi kidnapped her. Nick, knowing Amy's capability to frame things on people, confronts her. She presses him to conform to the public opinion that they're happily reunited. Nick is terrified that Amy can kill him too. Seven weeks since returning, Amy shows Nick she's pregnant bearing his son. Nick denied this saying he never touched her since she got back, But Amy reveals that she took his semen from the fertility clinic. Nick then forcefully goes back to his marriage, to the horrors of his twin sister.
I watched this movie without prior information about the book. And after watching I think that the story is very nice. It manages to make a ping- pong play out of viewers' assumptions toward the main characters Nick and Amy. The movie opens hinting that Nick may be facing a possible kidnapping or murder. But soon the ping-pong starts as Nick's flaws are revealed little by little. But then hints of Amy's possible past faults are also shown, making us question Amy's voice-over allegations to Nick.
Then the shocker comes as the movie slams the truth about Amy staged th whole disappearance and murder thing up. Watching this online, I wondered why did the movie open slam this big part of the mystery and keeps a big chunk of runtime behind? The following twists with Greta and Desi are just magnificent and really complete the movie as a classic frame and betrayal story.
The mystery aspect is nicely very thick in this movie. That assumptions ping pong play just really keeps the viewers' curiosity going. What's good is that it doesn't end when the truth of Amy is slammed onto the viewers' face like that. The drama on the conflict build up, side by side with that ping pong play, did great in emphasizing the conflict seeds and made the romance part look better.
The thriller part isn't really much. It's just there to dramatize more on the police investigations and the suspicious minds. But as the fowl play of both Nick and Amy is revealed, the thriller part moves more in holding up the suspense and curiosity of what's going to happen next, particularly after the sudden revelations of Amy's truth.
The acting department is a great overall. Ben Affleck nicely grasped every aspect of Nick; his confusion at first, his try to hide his side of the problems, his conviction on standing his ground of denying the murder, and his eventual fright to Amy. Rosamund Pike also did great, reviving her career to the spotlight. She really used her experiences, such as the cold traitor Miranda Frost, the sanguine Sam Chamberlaine, and the tough Andromeda, and blended them together into acting her role here. Other mentionable performances include Tyler Perry's in-control lawyer role, and Neil Pattrick Harris' long time ex-boyfriend role.
For me Gone Girl (2014) definitely deserve an 8 out of 10 score and a a recommendation to go see it in the theaters. It's a mystery movie that offers not the traditional case-build-to-twist-to-ending ordering. The unorthodox approach of viewers' assumption play and the sudden revelation midway will bend your mind over.