GONE GIRL

Basically…

When Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike) disappears on her fifth anniversary, her husband Nick (Ben Affleck) becomes the prime suspect. Told from his perspective in present time, and hers in the form of diary extracts throughout their relationship it becomes obvious, amid the media circus, that there are two sides to every story.

In other words…

A game of who’s the psychotic one.

The main men and leading ladies…

While reading Gone Girl I pictured Bradley Cooper as Nick – then heard early on they’d cast Ben Affleck to play him. It didn’t take long to change the image in my mind and soon he became the perfect one for the role. And as predicted he did the part justice, perfectly striking a balance between awkward, uncaring and just socially unaware. Pike does well to depict Amy as both strong and powerful, but also weak and vulnerable at the same time.

In the chair…

When it became known David Fincher was going to be the brains behind the big screen adaptation it was always going to be in safe hands. Working with author, Gillian Flynn, the screenplay sticks almost religiously to the book and the Fight Club and The Social Network director still manages to put his own chilling dark stamp on it.

So…?

The eagerly anticipated adaptation is well worth the wait. The book, which has become a soaring success for Flynn, is popular for its gripping and addictive writing style. And the film reflects this as at two and a half hours long you don’t have a second to relax and second guess how long’s left. It’s been getting some scathing reviews for its seemingly sexist depiction of Amy and females in general but it’s about time a mystery thriller dug deeper than the predictable surface we’re used to. Like the novel, the film keeps you gripped and your mind constantly working. The intricacy of the plot begins to fall into place perfectly and there’s never a worry that it could get too ridiculous or unbelievable. It stays within the realms of reality while still being able to blow your mind and get under your skin.

Worth the money?

Film of the year so far, stop reading this and go see it.