How do you solve a problem like reviewing Gone Girl? A film that is best enjoyed knowing as little as possible going in... unless you have read the book of course and then the whole thing is spoiled for you!
So how do you review a film where you are scared that talking about any particular aspect or plot point could potentially spoil one of the many, many twists and turns that this film takes along the bumpy road that is the marriage of Nick and Amy Dunne.
What I can say is that is very pleasing to have such a great movie made for grown ups. It has adult themes and at no point does it dumb down to the audience in terms of its ideas or execution. And much of that will be down to the director David Fincher.
It was perhaps initially surprising to see Fincher follow his super but ultimately superfluous English-language Girl With The Dragon Tattoo with another adaptation of a best-selling novel but Gone Girl finds him at his most playful since Fight Club, delivering an incredibly effective mystery that will pull the rug out from under you just when you think you have things figured out (usually accompanied by a crescendo in Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's terrific score).
But it also works as a dark and vicious satire on the media and their fascination with misery and murder, plus it has a lot to say about the modern day institution of marriage... and why do the call it the institution? Because you'd have to be insane to join it!
The film even opens on a shot of Affleck's character stroking his wife's hair as she lies on his chest as he remarks how he would like to crack her skull opening to find out what she was thinking.
Whereas before, in the likes of Se7en and Zodiac, Fincher has followed the police and the procedural nature of the investigation. Here he stays with the couple in question; murder suspect Nick and his missing wife Amy (through flashbacks and diary entries) but who's telling the truth?
The ambiguity is helped by standout performances from the two leads. Ben Affleck underplays it beautifully, with his genial nice, laid back attitude masking a layer of nastiness and contempt. Rosamund Pike however is simply a revelation in a role that people would kill for... Literally? Who knows *strokes beard*
In a story where it is impossible to know who or what to trust, trust me when I say that Gone Girl is one of the best films of the year. Everything else is background noise.
4 stars
