good performances abound, and love the social/media commentary

Rating: 8/10 (13 February 2015)

Granted, I'm behind on finishing-up my 2014 watch-list, and I still have "Interstellar", "Birdman", "American Sniper", "Whiplash"(late edit new#1) and "Nighcrawler" on my watchlist, so there is still a lot of sorting- out to do in terms of my 2014 top 25 list. BUT, for now, "Gone Girl" is at the top.
That's out of about 50 viewed films from last year.
"Gone Girl" is an absolute immersion into a great murder mystery. The plot seems to be ever-evolving, and the whole thing is bolstered by some fantastic performances from a great cast. The six largest roles(Affleck, Pike, Harris, Perry, Coon, and Dickens) are deftly handled. Tyler Perry is probably the best surprise here, but everyone is good.
The film has pitch-perfect pacing. It doesn't wait too long to get into the main plot, and most of the character-development is done via flashbacks, and just enough is used to both give us some background, but not tell us too much about the 'character' of these characters. Most of that comes late in the film, and that's good because it helps the audience reserve judgement.
Trent Reznor's music is toned way down from say "Social Network", but I think that's appropriate for a film where the plot is the main course.
The entire movie is "less fancy" than FIncher's previous work, but it's right up there with everything else. On my ratings I have it a smidge below "The Game"(#2 of 1997), about even with "Social Network"(#2 film for 2010), "Seven"(#2 of 1995) and "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" (#2 film for 2011),.. it's a touch better than "Zodiac"(my #5 film of 2007) and "Fight Club"(#9 for 1999)... it's a lot better than "Curious Case" and "Panic Room", neither of which made my top 25.
This film throws out some pretty big twists in the last half-hour. It couldn't have ended any other way, but the ending is certainly one aspect that might detach this film from it's audience as we really want to see what happens next - but isn't that a trademark of many great films?
I highly recommend this. I went-in with some pretty high expectations and it did NOT disappoint.
The three others I watched it with concurred..very...good...movie. Albeit less re-watchable than some of his other works - if for no other reason than the genre. I'd still like to watch it again though.
88/100
It could have used just a touch more scoring, and perhaps a bit more of Fugit and Dickens' cop scenes to further explore that side of things, but overall, it's very good, and it will certainly hold onto a top 5 spot for 2014. Can it hold onto the top spot? Dunno, we'll see.