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| PIKE |
Gone Girl tells the story of Nick and Amy Dunne. A seemingly happy couple suddenly torn apart by the disappearance and possible murder of Amy Dunne. To be fair, I am coming to you as someone who has not read the novel by Gillian Flynn. So, whatever liberties Fincher has taken with the material, I am not aware of. I wanted to just watch this film in a vacuum and glean what I could from the overall message. A message, which might be either the biggest "F%#k You!" to marriage I've seen in a film since The War Of The Roses, a commentary that the secrets we keep from those we love will inevitable imprison or kill us, or a warning to be careful of those you love because they could actually be capable of unspeakable things. In any case, these are not new topics or even a different way to look at these topics. What stands out to me is the way this story is delivered to us by its stars.
Ben Affleck is solid as the almost too perfect husband with a secret, but admittedly, he plays the part almost the same as the one he had in American remake of State Of Play a few years back. The exchanges between Affleck's character Nick and his sister Margo, played exceptionally well by actress Carrie Coon, are the only times where Ben seems to show us something new. Neil Patrick Harris and Kim Dickens are a little bit on the nose with their showings, but are still entertaining. Tyler Perry's role as the Johnny Cochrane-esque defense attorney Tanner Bolt was even well done and fitting. (Perry actually has my favorite line of the film.) But at the end of the day, the reason anyone will remember Gone Girl is Rosamund PIKE's performance.
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| Happy Wife, Happy Life Indeed |
I am going to keep this review short to avoid spoiling Gone Girl any more than I already have. The one thing that I hope I get across is that it is not a bad film, but not a groundbreaking masterpiece as some might lead you to believe. The situation that happens near the end of the film is the most interesting direction the story takes in my opinion, but we only get about 10 minutes of it. I have no doubt that once you see Gone Girl, the brilliance of Rosamund PIKE's performance will be the main thing that will stick with you. Fincher's always terrific, yet, somewhat untested direction in it will be second. The story itself will be a distant third. Wipe that sugar off your lip...don't leave your Mountain Dew unattended...know your spouse's bloodtype....watch it...then tell me I'm wrong.
