Gone Girl (MA15+)
Starring: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris
YES, it is as good as you’ve heard it is – and get ready for the plot twists of the year.
From its opening scene, “Gone Girl” has a weird, ethereal, ghostly mood to it, dealing as it does with the topic of murder most foul.
In this one, the story is everything – and it’s impossible to watch this movie without recalling those murderers who have walked among us, and their strident denials on the nightly news.
Ben Affleck again plays himself as Nick Dunne, the Everyman who’s just a little too good-looking and a little too perfect – his usual shtick.
When wife Amy disappears, with signs of struggle in their home, it doesn’t take long for suspicion to fall on errant hubby, Nick.
So, is he really up for a little wifey homicide? It certainly looks that way. That’s the question at the heart of the film, of course – but like an iceberg, there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface.
So, what is a happy marriage … to the people inside it, to the people outside it? Perspective changes everything here, and perception, not reality, is what matters.
The gone girl is the perfectly cast Rosamund Pike, in her strongest performance ever – this one will have made her career. She leaves us wondering if the missing wife is a perfect sweetie-pie, or a bitch from hell on wheels.
And as with all American tragedies, the whole thing transpires within the modern media bubble the US is famous for.
No-one’s all good, no-one’s all bad, and almost nothing is what it seems to be.
Director David Fincher has excelled himself with the mood and plot twists in this one.
It’s an engaging ride – densely plotted, and a great character piece.
Get set for a long one – this puppy clocks in at just shy of two-and-a-half hours, although to be fair it doesn’t seem like it.
– Jason Beck
