Thursday, October 9, 2014

Gone Girl

Director: David Fincher
With: Rosamund Pike, Ben Affleck, Carrie Coon, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry

I tried to make this as spoiler free as possible but read it as you may. This movie...may truly...kill me. As I've waited to see this for months and now that I did, I just may die because of its awesomeness. Of course, that's an exaggeration but it truly didn't disappoint one bit. David Fincher made another film adaptation of a bestseller with a twist so great, it's hard to move on from it and as usual, he paved the way, yet again, for one of his actor to have the peak of their career by casting them in a complex and iconic character. He did it with his past two films The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, with Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg and Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander. Here, it's Rosamund Pike who played Amy Elliott-Dunne, The Amazing Amy.

A testament of a good film adaptation of a mystery [and comedy] thriller like Gone Girl is the nonstop reaction of the crowd during all the twists and turns of the film. Heck even before and after its turning point, which is super amazing by the way, people are so into it. I've read the book that's why it's so amusing whenever people react to Fincher and Flynn's deceptions. They're the same reactions I've got when I read it. I happened to sit beside an adorable old lady whose reactions are hilarious. She's clearly slayed by the film. From her reactions to the douchebaggery of Nick Dunne and how it diverted to being disgusted by Amy's amazing psychopathic deeds. She kept going on and on with her reactions varying from "siraulo" (crazy), to "sakit sa ulo" (headache), to "papatayin ka niyan" (she'll kill you) and a number of "six weeks pregnant" when the idiot pregnant neighbor Noelle revealed that Amy was 6-weeks pregnant. Often times, viewers like this would annoy me but she just added up to the exciting movie experience that is Gone Girl.

Gone Girl doesn't need CGI, it doesn't need to be viewed in 3D or IMAX to be considered an incredible movie experience because for what it is, it IS an incredible movie experience. A super entertaining movie that tickled my fancy especially at the second act of the film where it revealed its tumble-inducing curve, with Amy Dunne throwing pens while driving and ranting about men's standards regarding "cool girls". I'm a little bit jealous that I've read the book prior into watching because I'd love to have the same large reactions of the nonreaders in the movies. Nevertheless, whether you read the bestseller or not, the film pushes you to think, to wonder, to suspect, to believe and to react to whatever the film mis/leads you and it's an exhilarating feeling. It helps a lot that Fincher made this fast-paced, incorporated with the persuasive score of Fincher's resident scorer Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross that effectively adds to the tension of the scenes. 

Ben Affleck is good. Carrie Coon is good. Tyler Perry's alright. Neil Patrick Harris is funky and funny. But Rosamund Pike playing the titular character is truly the star of the film handsdown. She completely owned the film and stole Affleck's thunder despite being barely in the first part of the film. I won't say that Affleck didn't shine though because he did. Let's just say, Rosamund is just simply way more amazing. She epitomized the wickedly twisted, one and only Amy Elliott-Dunne. She made an iconic book character even more iconic with how she portrayed this delusional human being in this film, and Fincher made sure that she will and they're successful in doing it. She's truly perfect for the role and has exceeded my expectations. The divergence of her acting as the cool and elegant girl Amy Dunne to the deglamorized faux dead woman into a merciless femme fatale is not only spectacular, but extremely thrilling. She made it so enjoyable watching a character, who never begged to be loved, but with the variety of layers that she showed, there's no way you would not appreciate her in this film.

She IS the movie for me, along with of course Fincher's direction and Flynn's genius script. A script that didn't follow the conventional happy or sad ending, rather she ended it with a disturbing yet awesome conclusion that would probably haunt you days after seeing it. It's not as cogent as how Flynn ended her book but it's similarly maddening. It's like we're all Nick Dunne and the film is Amy Dunne, and we finally cracked the film's skull, discovering the crumpled and tangled wires that made the whole movie so gripping, wild and interesting.

It had some changes from the book but it kept all the exciting parts. It didn't include some of my favorite themes from the book. For one, Nick's hateship with his father but it doesn't matter in the end because Fincher clearly focused on making the film an entertaining ride rather than making it dramatic and sentimental. Fincher meant to entertain and he did! This is my favorite David Fincher film to date.

Gone Girl will go down as a classic femme fatale movie. A womancentric movie that will become one of the most memorable films of its genre, and Rosamund Pike just put herself a few levels up the film industry. From being a bond girl in Die Another Day, to Keira Knightley's sister in Pride & Prejuice and now the iconic Amy Dunne in Gone Girl. With this portrayal, she will never be forgotten ever again.

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