Gone Girl - One of the best of 2014

Rating: 9/10 (28 October 2014)

How can you tell when a movie is great? It makes you feel good? It makes you feel gut- wretched? It makes you want to watch it again? It makes you want to talk and write about it? For me Gone Girl is all these things except the first one. This is not a feel good movie. But it is one hell of a movie. It picks you up, swirls you around and just when you think you know what's going on in pulls the rug from under you like a slap to the face. No wait, like a f***ing punch to the face.
Ben Affleck is one of the most hated Hollywood actors, but there's really no reason for that. Not anymore. Those infamous Daredevil, Paycheck and Gigi years are long gone. It's been 10 years. And for the past 4 years Ben Affleck has produced (with the exception of Runner Runner, let's ignore that one) really great work. As an actor AND as a director. In Gone Girl he was superb. Flawless as an actor who plays a flawed character.
The supporting cast is great (and I mean including Tyler Perry). But the one who steals the show is, without a doubt, Rosamund Pike. Her portrayal of the missing wife is beautifully constructed and layered. It's a very complex character, certainly not an easy one to play, but Rosamund Pike succeeds in turning it into a whimsical character. Oscar nomination? Certainly. Oscar grab? Too soon to tell.
David Fincher. You twisted man. And I mean that in a good way. You took a very demanding book adaptation and it's all just soÂ… exquisite. Every shot, every character development, every dialogue, every twist... Fincher had the right ingredients and he cooked them perfectly for you to savor every single moment.
Gone Girl starts as a simple but intense thriller. Yes the first half of the film starts a little bit slow. But it's all part of the act. After that it grows to be much more. The film tackles subjects like the complexity of marriage and the compromises it demands, the manipulative power of the media, the gullibility of the audience and the curse it is to be the subject to scrutiny of public opinion (The Hunt. Another very good film that approaches this same topic).
(T)he Good: The brilliantly played characters, Fincher's directing, Trent Reznor's soundtrack, and the motherf***ing twists and turns.
(T)he Bad: Neil Patrick Harris. I like him. But not in this movie. I wouldn't buy it and I feel the character he played could have been much more intense and deep. Michael C. Hall or Michael Shannon would have been great.
(T)he Trivia: Originally Nick was supposed to wear a New York Yankees cap in one scene. But Affleck, a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan, refused to wear it. Ultimately he and Fincher compromised and in that scene he wears a New York Mets cap.
When Should I Wa(T)ch - Gone Girl: Saturday night, with a couple of friends in a movie theater (to absorb the loud and hypnotizing soundtrack).