Movie Review: Gone Girl

I don’t get to go out too often and watch movies. But when I do and it turns out to be for a movie like Gone Girl, it is totally worth it. Btw, the link contains the spoiler too, so read it only if you aren’t planning to go see the movie.

This movie will appeal to those who enjoy good cinema and not merely look for ways to fill up and hour or so. Also, those who like their characters well-nuanced and fleshed out are in for a treat because Gillian Flynn is a woman with a diabolical mind and she unleashes that in the book and also in the screen play of this movie. The movie then becomes an extension of the book by bringing to life those scenarios one might have wondered about while reading it. The director, David Fincher and the author move in sync to make this movie the closest representation of a novel that I’ve seen in a really long time.

Onto the actors- this movie is Rosamund Pike’s through and through! What she emotes, what she leaves unsaid, her icy cool demeanor, her scrambled desperation, her warped mind as Amy is unadulterated good acting. Entirely au naturel! The Oscar is in the bag this time. Or it should be!

And it’s a good thing that she’s acting because the thought of this kind of sociopathic individuals out there is a bit discomforting to say the least. Especially when it is made out to be quite easy and believable.

Ben Affleck- looks baffled. Don’t know whether he toned it down for the movie or not, but just I did not feel his intensity, his desperation let alone his angst.

The rest of the cast, especially Neil Patrick Harris, Carrie Coon and others add the right kind of tang to the mix to bring everything to a boil; at which point Rosamund Pike picks it up again and carries it through like a trooper.

And now is where I use the psychobabble in the review- the movie with all its made-up parts is still harshly indicting of long-term relationships that have been left to fester. Of the people in them who present a calm veneer but are raging rapids of passion be it lust, anger, aggression; inside, all bottle up and ready to spew forth in a unholy spout of venom, darkness and immorality. Dramatic aren’t I?

The end result is a mindfuckery which will have you marveling at peoples’ talents and also at the questions of how well you know your spouse. Do you actually know them? Along with their dark places? Do their dark places resonate in you as well? And most importantly, do you want to get into their headspace and find out the answers to your questions?

This movie isn’t for everyone. It’s not rainbows and bring sunshine. But it’s still one helluva movie!