Perfect Adaptation

Rating: 10/10 (4 October 2014)

When Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck), returns home one day to find his home trashed and his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) missing, he realizes something isn't right. Immediately he contacts Detective Rhonda Boney (Kim Dickens) and Officer Jim Gilpin (Patrick Fugit). As the two begin to investigate the home, they begin to sense something peculiar about the break-in, as well as Nick's behavior. He then turns to his twin sister Margo (Carrie Coon) for support as the case begins to escalate and the media strongly begins to believe Nick has something to do with Amy's disappearance.
Based on the novel by Gillian Flynn, who also wrote the film's screenplay, director David Fincher brings this dark and mystery-filled story to life. The film goes back and forth between the present, and flashbacks shown through Amy's diary entries that lead up to her disappearance. The film runs at two and a half hours, but the film hooks you right away and never lets go. The story begins to build just as much as the evidence does until it leads to many twists and turns. It is also very excellently filmed, much like Fincher's previous films, he wants to bring the viewer into the world that characters live in by really focusing on the setting and the character's themselves. But what stands out the most in the top-notch performances by the cast. Every single actor/actress in the film gives it their all. Kim Dickens and Patrick Fugit do a great job of representing the viewers as the two cops divided. Dickens does a solid job of showing her conflict of whether or not she wants to believe Nick. Whereas Fugit brings a lot of humor as the skeptical character who doesn't believe Nick for a second. Carrie Coon who plays Affleck's sister in the film, provides us with the most likable character. She's not afraid to say what's on her mind, she's blunt and hilarious, but she's also the shoulder that Nick needs in the end and we really sense the bond between the two actors. Ben Affleck gives the performance of his career as a man caught in a web mystery. He gets so into character by showing two sides of his character that leaves the audience baffled of whether to believe he had something to do with his wife's disappearance or not. Finally, Rosamund Pike gives the best performance of the film as Amy Dunne, a wife who at first found herself deeply in love, but slowly beginning to grow unsure of her husband and his motives. The character of Amy herself is also so complex and Pike sells it to us all the way.
Overall, David Fincher's Gone Girl, is easily the best film adaptation of a novel that I have seen thus far. It has much to thank from the novel's author and screenwriter Gillian Flynn, the perfect direction of David Fincher, and the spot-on performances from its entire cast. It is top-notch mystery thriller that keeps you reeled in until the very last scene.
My Rating: 10/10