GONE GIRL - REVIEW


Director David Fincher is back with a new, reliably strange thriller and, mercifully, it's not another "Girl With The...", not yet anyway. Based on Gillian Flynn's novel, Gone Girl sees Ben Affleck play a husband who finds out that his wife has gone missing all of a sudden.

If there is one movie that's nearly impossible to review without spoiling anything it's this one, but I'll give it a go.

The trailer for the film, which was pretty clever, turns out to be way more clever than we thought as nothing, we soon realise, is as it seems. The movie's plot sort of reinvents itself as the story develops so whatever you're expecting, it's very likely it's not that. There's a good bunch of effective twists and turns throughout the film and seeing as it is by Fincher, the M. Night Shyamalan of dark "realistic" thrillers, they're handled brilliantly and should keep you hooked from start to finish. And Gone Girl isn't a short flick so that's saying something. You know how Zodiac was gripping pretty much non-stop and still left you wanting more somehow? This one's sort of like that. It, however, works slightly less than Zodiac as a film in that you can sort of pick at a couple of plot-holes here and there if you think about the twists a bit too much but otherwise, it's definitely right up there.

Ben Affleck does a great job at playing a morally grey character you're never quite sure how to feel about while Rosamund Pike gives an impressive, career-best, possibly even Oscar-worthy performance. Neil Patrick Harris also shows up at one point as Pike's creepy ex-boyfriend and it's certainly refreshing to see him play a completely different role than we're used to. It's a very good cast and David Fincher uses everyone's abilities perfectly, constantly keeping the audience three steps behind by throwing big Hitchcokian moves at us when you least expect it. Ultimately, the film ends in a somewhat anti-climactic way but, although it could have kept going pretty much forever, it had to end somehow and the way it does end definitely works.

That's all I can say about it, really, without ruining the experience for you but to put it simply: I absolutely recommend this movie. I can't guarantee you'll love it or even like it, I could see this one dividing audiences on a number of points, but I personally had a great time watching it.

Whatever you think of it, this is one movie which should stay with you for a while.

Another oddball Fincher hit.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT - REVIEW

24: SEASON 1 - REVIEW

THE ADDAMS FAMILY MUSICAL - REVIEW