RELEASED: 2nd October 2014

DIRECTOR: David Fincher

CAST: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Carrie Coon, Tyler Perry, Neil Patrick Harris, Kim Dickens, Patrick Fugit, Missi Pyle, Casey Wilson, Lola Kirke, Lisa Banes, Boyd Holbrook, Sela Ward, Scoot McNairy, Scott Takeda, David Clennon and Emily Ratajkowski

BUDGET: $61m

BOX OFFICE WORLDWIDE: $368m

AWARDS: None (Academy Award nomination, 4 Golden Globe nominations and 2 BAFTA nominations)

Gone Girl is a film adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s 2012 novel, directed by the master of numerous takes in David Fincher. On the day of their fifth anniversary, Nick returns home to see that there appears to have been a struggle in the house, as there’s a broken coffee table and his wife Amy is nowhere to be found. At first, once the media get a hold of Amy’s disappearance, Nick acts awkwardly in front of the cameras and has sympathy from those in the community. But once a few days pass, the media and a few in the community begin to turn on Nick, the question remains – did he kill Amy Dunne?

Gone Girl marked the third and final feature from David Fincher last decade, with author Gillian Flynn adapting her own novel for this film adaptation. The film initially starts off with the perception of it being about this dissatisfying marriage between Nick and Amy Dunne, with the latter disappearing one day and you begin to question whether or not the former might have killed her. The voiceover that Amy reads from her diary entries with accompanying flashbacks indicate that maybe Nick is not what he appears to be but throughout the course of the film, Nick and Amy aren’t what we perceive them to be. With a two and a half hour runtime, the film is well-paced focusing on the first half of the mystery of where Amy Dunne is and if Nick killed or, to the revelations of what actually did happen to her and how it all plays out and closes in the second half of the film. It’s wonderfully crafted by David Fincher, with some great cinematography by Jeff Cronenweth and Kirk Baxter also deserves praise as well for his editing work. The score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is also really good too, very atmospheric and, at times, sinister. Whilst the mystery is one large part of the film, I also liked how it portrayed the media and the circus that comes with the disappearance of a human being, be it that news anchors make certain assumptions of someone’s character, as well as the witch hunt mentally that follows based on little to no evidence. With a great screenwriter and great director, it helps that the ensemble matches the talents of those involved behind the camera. I though Ben Affleck gave a great performance as Nick Dunne, balancing the fine line of making him sympathetic to his plight as the media and police swarm in on him as a person of interest, yet also making you doubt him as there’s a few moments where he just appears…off. Tyler Perry also gave a great performance as hotshot lawyer Tanner Bolt, whose known for representing men accused of killing their wives. Kim Dickens and Patrick Fugit are a great pairing as Detective Rhonda Boney and Officer James Gilpin, the investigators in Amy’s disappearance. Also giving a great performance is Carrie Coon as Margo Dunne, Nick’s sister and her sibling chemistry with Affleck onscreen is authentic and her reactions throughout the course of the film provide some humour to this otherwise dark drama. However, make no mistake about this, this film is all about Rosamund Pike’s performance as Amy Dunne, where she really gets to showcase her acting abilities in what is her best performance to date as she can be sweet, seemingly sincere and then terrifying in the same scene. Even though she absolutely deserved her Academy Award nomination for this performance, I was raging for her that she didn’t win it on the night.

FAVOURITE SCENE: We find out exactly what happened to Amy Dunne as we hear it from her ‘Cool girl’ monologue point-of-view.

FAVOURITE QUOTE: “Fuck. You’re delusional. I mean, you’re insane, why would you even want this? Yes, I loved you and then all we did was resent each other, try to control each other. We caused each other pain.

That’s marriage.” – Nick and Amy Dunne

DID YOU KNOW: Ben Affleck postponed directing Live By Night (2016) in order to work on this film with David Fincher, even stating, “He’s the only director I’ve met who can do everybody else’s job better than they could.” On-set one day, Affleck changed the lens setting on a camera an almost indiscernible amount, betting a crew member that Fincher wouldn’t notice. Affleck lost the bet as Fincher brought up, “Why does the camera look a little dim?”