What have we done to each other? What are we going to do?

Rating: Null/10 (13 October 2014)

Returning to cinema after an excursion into TV's House of Cards, David Fincher tackles another adaptation of a literary smash hit. But whereas The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was a misstep for Fincher, too long and slow without enough of a unique character to set it apart from the Swedish original, Gone Girl is a resounding success. The murky, mysterious story is of a missing wife, a husband who doesn't seem to care enough and a diary revealing a marriage in free fall. It's about lies and perception, the treatment of women and the expectations of men, and the dark side of modern marriage. To say anything more would begin to spoil the tightly constructed plot, adapted from her own novel by Gillian Flynn. Authors adapting their own works is rare but on this evidence I'd like to see it more often: Flynn manages to compress her complex book into a screenplay without losing anything of importance, and keeping the strong characters and their hidden motivations intact, while Fincher keeps the pace smooth, the plot intriguing and the mood consistent for a full 2 and a half hours. This owes much to his usual team of cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth, editor Kirk Baxter and in particular composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Cronenweth's visuals are crisp and confident and Reznor and Ross continue to prove themselves as the best composer in Hollywood today; creepy, ominous, melodic and occasionally bursting into electronic mayhem. Ben Affleck, Tyler Perry (who can do serious surprisingly well, although he still provides several much needed moments of comic relief) and Carrie Coon put in good performances, but the film's greatest success lies is in Rosamund Pike's turn as Amy. Utterly devastating. I could write for paragraphs about her performance, but it's almost impossible to discuss without giving anything away. All I will say is it's going to take something outstanding to take the Oscar away from her. If nothing else, go see this for her.
If the film has flaws, though, it's in two supporting characters who, removed of the novel's back stories, come across as shallow; ideas to drive the narrative forward rather than real people. It would be a sin to reveal who these people are due to their importance to the plot; but they are played - not badly, incidentally, just poor characters - by Neil Patrick Harris and Emily Ratjakowski. The former also tips the plot into absurdity in the third act, with events that make more sense on the page than on screen. Under a lesser director this could derail the film but Fincher sweeps the viewer along with such verve, power and excitement that you aren't even given the chance to question or doubt. Gone Girl confirms he's one of the greatest directors working today.