Gone Girl (2014) Movie Review

R  |  149 min

Director: David Fincher
Writer: Gillian Flynn
Stars: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, & Carrie Coon

Genre: Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Plot: "With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent."



After hearing so much praise from Gone Girl from other critics and even friends, some saying its their favorite movie of the year. I knew that is was on my list of movies to watch before the year was over. Luckily I had a chance to see it recently and a few other movies that I will be reviewing soon.

The plot to Gone Girl is relatively simple, at least for most of it. It primarily follows Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) who's wife Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike) mystery disappears one day and evidence seems to all point to Nick being the killer. The media and all of the neighbor begins to hate and constantly push that he is the killer and the longer his wife is missing the pressure is put on him and the evidence becomes more and more clear.

But around the half way mark the film suddenly takes a different turn and reveals the twist of the movie much sooner than most movies will take. In the second half it is revealed that this whole time it was Amy Dunne herself that set up the lie that her husband killed her in order to get revenge for him cheating on her with another woman.

I personally would've liked the twist to be revealed a little later in the film, maybe closer to the end, because when the film begins to follow the wife and her side of the story, you begin to that how her plans begin to show a lot of mistakes compared to what we saw from the first half of the film. 

Now Gone Girl has a lot of strengths but isn't missing a problems, but the good does out way the bad.

Technical Side - A  

The Music Score (Done by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) makes this movie. It sets the tone, creates the atmosphere and maximizes the most out of the intense scenes. The movie is shot beautifully and have the same great lighting you expect to see in just about every David Fincher film. The mood kept me engaged for most of the movie and I think if done by a different directed wouldn't have been as special as it ended up being. 

Narrative - C  

Now the film isn't without its problems and they mostly lie in the narrative. Walking out of the film, doesn't cause you to think much, but when you step back and actually think about it, the small cracks begin to lead to bigger ones. They don't take away from the experience of the movie, but they will affect how I see and will watch the movie in the future.

The problem with the second half of the film that focuses on the Wife, Amy Dunne, is that you begin to notice all the mistakes she is making that should lead to her ultimately getting caught. So when she does get away with it all its hard to believe that would happen because they set up little hints that with out a lot of brain processing and asking a few question could lead anyone character into figuring out what truly happened. 

The Film tries to make you feel that she was smart enough to outsmart everyone, but the problem is that she didn't. If she hadn't made so many mistakes she would have and the ending would've been much more impact full. 

Overall Gone Girl is a film worth checking out, and will definitely cause some discussion after watching it. If you can get passed some of the problems in the second half, if you even notice them. You will enjoy this movie on multiple  viewings and even maybe find out something you didn't notice before. 

Rating:







Have you seen Gone Girl, What did you think of the film?

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