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Director: David Fincher
Cast: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens, Tyler Perry
Gone Girl was one of my most anticipated movies of the year. Not only is it Fincher, a director I mostly love, but it comes right around the time I start to set into blockbuster fatigue. I don't abhor summer movies. However, by the end of the summer I am ready for something more character driven. Gone Girl delivers on that front and many others. Unfortunately it also falls into some of the thriller traps that keep it from being great in my opinion. I really enjoy a good thriller. Unfortunately for me way too many start strong and then gradually just peck away at my suspension of belief. Gone Girl doesn't do enough of this pecking to make me dislike the film, but it does do enough to make me feel it is flawed. The first hour Gone Girl is really firing on all cylinders. The central relationship is not entirely original but it is very engaging. The peripheral relationships are really good as well. Nick's (Affleck) relationship with his sister and the detectives are not only well drawn and pertinent but also make for some of the more entertaining scenes in the film. Fincher sets a chilling tone but also makes all the characters easy to relate to and sympathetic. This is Gone Girl's strength by far for me. There are a fair number of twists in this film. I did not find any of them to be particularly jarring. What I did find myself doing consistently was second guessing what I thought was coming. The possibilities for how all the threads are going to play out are mostly front and center. What Fincher does by drawing the characters as well as he does is make you feel any of the many possibilities make sense. It really is brilliant because it makes what could feel like a paint by numbers thriller feel fresh and unique.
Most of what I dislike about Gone Girl is impossible to talk about in a review. Gone Girl is a film that is not to be spoiled. I really appreciate the way that Fincher cut his trailers because I had not a clue how all of this would play out while watching the film. When the first big twist in the movie comes, things started to change for me a bit. Gone Girl suddenly went from a atmospheric, character driven mystery to a how deranged are they going to get thriller. While I like the former much more than the latter, not all in the latter is bad. I was white knuckled through much of the second half of this film. You can just feel the more visceral moments in Gone Girl coming. Once again what sets this movie and Fincher apart is you never quite know when and who these moments are going to come from. While there are are a couple of things that I really didn't like in the last hour, it has to be said that I think the ending is really strong. It won't be for everyone, but I think most film fans are really going to appreciate it.
I think most of the performances in this film are on point. Affleck is not an actor I love, but he is an actor I think is fine if he is just allowed to be himself. This may sound stupid to some, like anyone can play themselves, but not everyone can. Affleck is very natural when he is allowed to be just this kind of laid back every man. I think it works very well here. The supporting cast is good across the board. No one is reinventing the wheel here, but no one has to. The one performance I did not care for was Pike as Nick's wife. Nothing from her seemed natural to me. I always felt like I was watching a performance from her, which is never what you want. It has surprised me that I have read a lot of praise for her, both here and elsewhere, since watching the film. I came out thinking that my opinion would be pretty universal for her performance. I am glad everyone got so much more out of Pike than I did, I just wish I had seen the same performance. Perhaps it would have helped some of my issues with the film.
Overall Gone Girl is a really enjoyable watch. I have not even touched on the themes of marriage that run through the course of the film. They are very easy to relate to and help drive much of the sympathy for the characters. There is also a good amount of humor which is fun and necessary. Some have even suggested that this may be a black comedy. That is not a contention I would agree with, but there is more then enough levity throughout. There was as much crowd reaction, both good and bad, at my viewing of this movie as any I have been to in a long time. Gone Girl was a nice start to the fall season and a movie I could see showing up on my year end top ten.
Ranking Fincher:
Director: David Fincher
Cast: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens, Tyler Perry
Gone Girl was one of my most anticipated movies of the year. Not only is it Fincher, a director I mostly love, but it comes right around the time I start to set into blockbuster fatigue. I don't abhor summer movies. However, by the end of the summer I am ready for something more character driven. Gone Girl delivers on that front and many others. Unfortunately it also falls into some of the thriller traps that keep it from being great in my opinion. I really enjoy a good thriller. Unfortunately for me way too many start strong and then gradually just peck away at my suspension of belief. Gone Girl doesn't do enough of this pecking to make me dislike the film, but it does do enough to make me feel it is flawed. The first hour Gone Girl is really firing on all cylinders. The central relationship is not entirely original but it is very engaging. The peripheral relationships are really good as well. Nick's (Affleck) relationship with his sister and the detectives are not only well drawn and pertinent but also make for some of the more entertaining scenes in the film. Fincher sets a chilling tone but also makes all the characters easy to relate to and sympathetic. This is Gone Girl's strength by far for me. There are a fair number of twists in this film. I did not find any of them to be particularly jarring. What I did find myself doing consistently was second guessing what I thought was coming. The possibilities for how all the threads are going to play out are mostly front and center. What Fincher does by drawing the characters as well as he does is make you feel any of the many possibilities make sense. It really is brilliant because it makes what could feel like a paint by numbers thriller feel fresh and unique.
Most of what I dislike about Gone Girl is impossible to talk about in a review. Gone Girl is a film that is not to be spoiled. I really appreciate the way that Fincher cut his trailers because I had not a clue how all of this would play out while watching the film. When the first big twist in the movie comes, things started to change for me a bit. Gone Girl suddenly went from a atmospheric, character driven mystery to a how deranged are they going to get thriller. While I like the former much more than the latter, not all in the latter is bad. I was white knuckled through much of the second half of this film. You can just feel the more visceral moments in Gone Girl coming. Once again what sets this movie and Fincher apart is you never quite know when and who these moments are going to come from. While there are are a couple of things that I really didn't like in the last hour, it has to be said that I think the ending is really strong. It won't be for everyone, but I think most film fans are really going to appreciate it.
I think most of the performances in this film are on point. Affleck is not an actor I love, but he is an actor I think is fine if he is just allowed to be himself. This may sound stupid to some, like anyone can play themselves, but not everyone can. Affleck is very natural when he is allowed to be just this kind of laid back every man. I think it works very well here. The supporting cast is good across the board. No one is reinventing the wheel here, but no one has to. The one performance I did not care for was Pike as Nick's wife. Nothing from her seemed natural to me. I always felt like I was watching a performance from her, which is never what you want. It has surprised me that I have read a lot of praise for her, both here and elsewhere, since watching the film. I came out thinking that my opinion would be pretty universal for her performance. I am glad everyone got so much more out of Pike than I did, I just wish I had seen the same performance. Perhaps it would have helped some of my issues with the film.
Overall Gone Girl is a really enjoyable watch. I have not even touched on the themes of marriage that run through the course of the film. They are very easy to relate to and help drive much of the sympathy for the characters. There is also a good amount of humor which is fun and necessary. Some have even suggested that this may be a black comedy. That is not a contention I would agree with, but there is more then enough levity throughout. There was as much crowd reaction, both good and bad, at my viewing of this movie as any I have been to in a long time. Gone Girl was a nice start to the fall season and a movie I could see showing up on my year end top ten.
Ranking Fincher: