Brilliant thriller

Rating: 9/10 (14 February 2015)

Brilliant thriller, filled with all the usual David Fincher twists, mind games and clever manipulations.
Great plot. While most stories give you a feeling that there is some way out for the "good guy", here the "good guy" seems doomed, once the wheels are set in motion. Furthermore, you are never sure who is the "good guy" and who the "bad guy". Even once the twist is revealed, you feel there may be another in store. Very un-Hollywood ending too, which is good.
Superb performances by Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, especially. Pike well-deserved her Best Leading Actress Oscar nomination (maybe win too - Oscar ceremony hasn't occurred yet, at the time of writing this). A searingly brilliant performance by her.
Good support from Tyler Perry, Carrie Coon and Kim Dickens.
Only negatives, I feel, are that the big twist came too soon. I would like to have been kept in suspense for a while longer. Plus, knowing Fincher's other work, especially Seven and Fight Club, I was expecting a big twist near or at the end. When it came it was gradual, and felt a bit flat. Still a good ending, but it felt like I was being brought down gently, rather than with a jolt.