Check out my youtube review HERE!!!
David Fincher is one of the most revered filmmakers of our time and I'm not just saying that because he is one of my biggest influences. Tarantino actually sent out a email to many well known filmmakers and asked them who the ten most important filmmakers of our time were and only two names appeared on everyone's lists; those names were Richard Linklater and David Fincher.
Gone Girl is David Fincher's latest film, based on the Gillian Flynn novel of the same name (side note: the novelist also wrote the screenplay). Now the novel was quite a hit in 2012 and 2013 and it also being Fincher's next film made it quite anticipated for many film fans and myself. It follows Nick (Ben Affleck) who come home on his fifth wedding anniversary to find his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) missing. This missing persons case soon turns into a murder with Nick being the prime suspect. It also stars Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens, Tyler Perry and Neil Patrick Harris.
When I left the cinema after seeing Gone Girl I left feeling four things; rather mixed, very unsettled, confused and rather pleased. Though somewhat similar to the films Fincher has done before Gone Girl is kind of a different animal. For the first thirty or so minutes of the film it didn't feel like something Fincher had made; the dialogue felt different, the pacing felt different, the atmosphere felt different...it just all felt different. But then once it got to a certain story beat it was pure Fincher and I was sucked in...and then it changed. It continued to go back and forth between the Fincher that I knew and the Fincher that I didn't and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it wasn't always a good thing either.
Like all of Fincher films Gone Girl is technically perfect. Jeff Cronenweth's cinematography is as stunning as ever; his collaborations with Fincher have to be some of the best use of digital photography. The score from Trent Reznor and Atticuss Ross really adds to the experience as well. The actors all do great work (including Tyler Perry) with Carrie Coon being the stand out for me as Nick's twin sister Margo. There was never any doubt that this wouldn't be the case, if you watch any of his work you'd find this to be true so we're left with the script to find the films faults.
Now I haven't read the novel though reliable sources (and wikipedia) have told me that the film stays very true to it. The script isn't necessarily bad but the story is far from perfect though I do love (and loath) where it goes. The script goes into the dark recesses of marriage and the way it can make two people come undone; it may start with love but sometimes it grows into loathing. This is truly David Fincher's bleakest film and it will leave you feeling frightened and exhausted and I really loved how it ended; true Fincher fashion.
But the road to get there was rather bumpy and contained some very illogical and rather frustrating plot points that really would never happen but do so that the audience don't know whether Nick killed Amy or didn't. If the writer wasn't worried about the ambiguity a ridiculous plot point wouldn't have happened but then again it would have ended up being a completely different story. The script also contains some very cheese and almost laughable moments which you can tell come from the pulpiness of the novel and is cause for some very jarring tonal shifts. But some times the laughs are okay, especially regarding the satirical look at the way the media and the attention seeker react to these situation.
Gone is far from Fincher's best film but it's still pretty damn great. Technically immaculate, thematically ambitious for a mainstream film (then again it is Fincher), slightly flawed but overall quite thrilling and haunting. Gone Girl definitely isn't a film for everyone's tastes and is bound to be rather polarising but it will be a major discussion point for the coming days and you will very much be out of the loop if you don't get to see it. Me personally, I find it to be pretty great but not close to Fincher's best but even lower tier Fincher is better than most.
4 out of 5 stars.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
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