I dedicate this post to my father who passed away recently. He rarely saw movies, but always had a constructive comment on how my posts were written. He let me know if I was hitting the mark with my comments or if i talked him out of seeing a film because of what I wrote.
“Gone Girl”
So, during the slow movie months of September and October, a truly exciting film that I can only call a Thriller comes out. Starring Ben Affleck and Rosemund Pike as Nick and Amy Dunne, this is the story of a seemingly idyllic couple whose marriage is thrown into the media spotlight after the mysterious and suspicious disappearance of Nick’s beautiful wife Amy. The film plays into and almost lampoons the conclusions we jump to immediately and the mob mentality that seizes our modern society as a result of a ratings obsessed media.
Director David Fincher builds an elaborate base from which we think we know what happened because the clues are so obvious, but at the same time allows us to doubt what we feel for the very same reason of how obvious the clues are. Ben Affleck is perfectly cast as the handsome, yet suspicious husband channeling the Scott Peterson case from the early 2000s. Through police interrogations, Fincher tells the picture perfect storybook tale of how Nick and Amy met and came to be married. They were two people destined to be with each other. As the story progresses, we begin to see the cracks in the fairy tale, and as our suspicions increase about Nick, so do our doubts about whether he actually did it.
As much as I enjoyed Ben Affleck’s performance, Rosemund Pike’s performance as the missing wife was the true standout for me. Not only am I impressed when the English can do a flawless American accent, but she has the mannerisms down to perfection too. She portrays the perfect victim, but at the same time has a sinister and dangerous edge that keeps us guessing. As her dark side is slowly revealed (actually, quite suddenly at one point in the film), she becomes a source of fear and distrust that rivals, if not exceeds, what we feel for her husband Nick. I can’t go into much more of a synopsis without giving away key plot points, so I will just say that there are very few innocents in this film and Fincher has a way of making everyone sympathetic and deplorable at the same time.
David Fincher has an impressive track record of creating thrilling film noir. Having achieved almost perfection in the film ‘Seven’, he has used this type of film making over the years even in his lighter faire such as ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons’. Watching ‘Gone Girl’ makes me realize how truly absent the art form of the Thriller has become in the modern movie landscape. Films that take their time building tension and demand our attention to even the minutest plot points have become increasingly rare. Today’s audiences seem to have lost the appetite for storytelling and nuance opting for instant gratification action sequences that appeal to our attention deficit.
While one can just enjoy the whodunnit storyline of this film, it is also an effective social commentary of our media culture as well. It lays bare the hunger that the media has for sensationalism over truth. They look for the angle that gets the most people into a frenzy, no matter who it hurts. In a small, but pivotal role, Tyler Perry plays the spotlight-hogging, sleazy defense attorney, yet ends up being one of the more virtuous characters in the story. His understanding of how the media ‘system’ works is something that Nick clings to during his most trying times.
I highly recommend this film. It’s a great fall movie night film that leaves you talking about it long after the credits roll. See it with a date, but it might give you second thoughts about getting married.
I give this film *** 1/2 stars out of four
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