Just great

Rating: 8/10 (15 October 2014)

Maybe I'm overreacting but I really mean it. This movie was great in every way possible. Usually when people talk about this movie they go on about the plot of the story and even though it came as a surprise, there are other ways of talking about this movie.
First half is pretty basic story vise, main character finds his home violated and his wife missing. In that first half we get two view points, view-point of main protagonist Nick and the detective investigating this case. So as the detective is going deeper into the case, reading chapters from missing Amy's journal, we start suspecting Nick more and more but one can easily see that something is wrong about that picture which is presented to us. And that's as much of the plot that you're gonna get from me.
Everyone was doing his/hers job perfectly, not attracting attention to their work. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross was perfect, for most of the running time i didn't really notice it that much, you'd notice it at just the right moments for just the good amount. Where a lot of people would try to use music to manipulate your mood. This was atmospheric at just the right amount.
Camera movement/angles are perfect, again a lot of people try to be showoffy with the camera moves/long takes/weird angles, but here everything serves only a story telling purpose. Like most of Finchers films, you could turn off the audio and still get what is going on because it's perfectly orchestrated. Also, the color palate is very fitting given the overall theme of the movie.
Performances range from good to GREAT.
Ben Affleck has been in some really good movies over the years but his acting chops were never exceptional. Here he shines like never before, and maybe it's because the role just fits him personally. For good amount of the time he plays a man who's imploding, with only few bursts of anger. Even though we, the audiences, were manipulated to hate him in the first half I kind of liked the guy, but will be the first one to say that he's an A-hole. A lot of people didn't like him but to me he's just your normal guy who you can find in your neighborhood. Given the overall them of the movie I'd say that pretty much all of his actions are right fitting and that most of the people judging him would probably act the same way (since I don't want to go into spoilers, I will leave it at this).
Rosamund Pike is THE STAR of this film, giving the performance of her career and I would be disappointed if there isn't a lot of Oscar buzz around it (but I also wouldn't be surprised if they ignore it because the Academy was never about honoring the very best). A lot of people are judging her character and her motivations for some of her choices but one thing that people tend to forget is that movies are not the exact representation of life,they're the illusion of reality. And also, we're taking about a sick mind that doesn't have a real 'I' because all of the media scrutiny she was exposed to. So her perception of morally right and wrong is different from everyone else's. But I can get people not buying into character motivations.
This is going over the edge and then some in sole purpose of making us learn something about our selves, in this case about how we're only mammals who are for majority of the time just an echo... How we're all putting on masks of what we find is the perfect self, and what happens when you get into route and start taking things for granted... But also giving a great commentary on mass media and again proving the point that people as a mass group are stupid, panicky animals. Given this theme the movies ending and choices characters made are perfectly fitting and is only logical. I haven't read the book, and I don't really want to because this did the job for me and the author wrote the screenplay so I know it's what was intended in the first place.
It's also worth noting Neil Patrick Harris's and Tyler Perry's performances too, but I wouldn't say they're anything other than good.
If there is a misstep it's that only after the twist happened, the detective started raising some questions as far as the Nick's innocence or the lack of it, there was no indication of it before. But she was judgmental from the very beginning about everything so I'll let it slide.
And in one of the sex scenes, which was very disturbing to say the least, penetration happened while Pike still had he underwear on... And yet few scenes later we get a way more exposing shoot of her in the bathtub. This movie was obviously not interested in censoring stuff so why? I guess MPAA would've slapped it with an NC-17, so I guess this is for the better, I was surprised to get this much into just an R and be so commercial. I'm loving that Fincher is getting this much attention and that a quality film making is third week at the top of the box office figures. Go see it, now!