High brow pulp - one of the best films of 2014

Rating: 8/10 (30 December 2014)

In 2012 Gillian Flynn's third novel took the literary world by storm. It became a bestseller with the aid of nothing but high praise from the likes of NPR, The New York Times, Publisher's Weekly and all the other usual suspects book readers look to for guidance. Gone Girl was seemingly the only thing people were reading that summer and yet when it came time to hand out literary awards, it was completely shut out of the conversation. This is likely due to the fact that those awards are rarely given to any novel that is so neatly slotted into a single genre, in this case mystery. But Gone Girl had become such cultural juggernaut that it was inevitable that it would be adapted for a wider audience (read: moviegoers). And so, just two short years after its initial release as a novel, we have our Gone Girl movie and it is better than any pulp mystery has any right to be.
No stranger to adapting bestselling novels, David Fincher (Fight Club, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) is really the only director that could have done this film justice. He dives head first into the plot, allowing the thread to unravel slowly, deliberately, but steadily from the get-go. Despite the fact that the plot of Gone Girl boils down to a husband being considered as the prime suspect in the disappearance of his wife despite them having a seemingly perfect marriage, Fincher wisely lets the story do the talking and at a running time of 145 minutes there is, surprisingly, a lot of story to tell. Fincher doesn't get fancy with artistic camera movements, stylized segues between time and place or even establishing shots. Everything is presented as matter-of-fact with a simple line of text that tells us where we are in the story before disappearing into the frame. He also presents to us a world that is cold, sterile and nearly devoid of color – a clever way of letting us see the color of these seemingly lily white and, at first glance, bland characters slowly come to the forefront revealing many fascinating and horrifying secrets and motivations.
Speaking of the characters, this is a stellar cast. Ben Affleck plays Nick Dunne as though he is perpetually annoyed at the world not catering to his emotional needs as he sees fit. In her book, Flynn describes Nick Dunne as having, "a face you want to punch." If anyone in Hollywood exemplifies that trait better than Affleck, I'd have to see it to believe it. But the real star of Gone Girl is Rosamund Pike as the titular missing person, Amy Dunne. Everything about this character is a mystery not the least being what her fate may be. Pike's physical appearance is at once sexy, yet alarmingly blank. There's something behind those tiny, dark eyes but what is it? Fear? Longing? Either way, this is pitch perfect casting, from the prime players to the supporting cast featuring Kim Dickens, Patrick Fugit and the surprisingly enjoyable Tyler Perry as celebrity defense attorney Tanner Bolt.
Flynn adapted the screenplay herself and because of that, this dialogue flows as naturally as possible, despite its pulp origins. Her prose is tight, self-aware, and always riveting; it urges you to keep turning pages in order to reveal the next shocking piece of the story. Despite the fact that Flynn trimmed a lot of the novel's fat from her screenplay, there are some issues that still remain: an abundance of clunky narration, a couple of characters left flapping in the breeze and what some may feel is a less than satisfying ending. Still, Gone Girl has such a fun, intriguing story to tell, you'll be eager to forgive its sins. Flynn's nearly airtight screenplay paired with Fincher's remarkable ability for presenting a compelling visual narrative treats us to a seamless transition of this material from the page to the screen. So seamless, in fact, that much like the book before it, people will be talking about Gone Girl to one another long after they finish watching the film. And while this isn't exactly high brow entertainment, Gone Girl, in both its book and film versions, is comparable to ordering a cheeseburger at the fanciest restaurant in town. Yes, you're still biting into ground beef but the cow from which it derived grazed on the tallest, most nutrient rich grass in the region and the chef who prepared it has made a career of surprising critics with comfort foods that appeal to the most sophisticated of palates.