Gone Girl (Film Review)

If Gone Girl was a road, it’d be full of twists and sudden turns.  Not too surprising, considering its director David Fincher, whose strong forte is surprising viewers with out of the blue events.  Instead of one big twist however, it’s a bunch of smaller ones constantly changing up the film’s direction, along with its audience’s reaction to characters.  The plot isn't simple to explain, since it changes every 20 minutes or so; the gist of Gone Girl consists of husband Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) and wife Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike), who has mysteriously gone missing on their fifth year anniversary.  Nick calls the police along with detective Boney (Kim Dickens), who are instantly suspicious of Nick and his nonchalant attitude towards his wife’s disappearance.  Nick’s sent away from the crime scene to live with his twin sister Margo (Carrie Coon) while public opinion begins to develop against his innocence.  The media begins cashing in on the public’s attitude, even suggesting Nick hire defense attorney Tanner Bolt (Tyler Perry), infamous for his specializing in defending accused wife murders.  Yet all the pieces don’t add up, and soon Gone Girl switches up its plot course…again and again and again…which is why I end this paragraph with MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW!!!!

Changing a film’s direction is a great way to keep things refreshing if the concept’s been done before.  Of course it can also be easily screwed up if done poorly or without proper foreshadowing; fortunately that’s not the case here.  At first Gone Girl appears to be an ambiguous murder case (similar to the likes of Reversal of Fortune), which is soon dispersed and replaced with a tale about a wife getting revenge against her lousy husband; then it switches direction again…and again.  The changes continue until we reach the film’s end which looks similar to the beginning, yet has its circumstances unbelievably altered.  The audience’s perspective (aka my fiancée and I) of Nick and Amy changes from “husband’s a lousy cheater/wife a tragic victim” to both becoming anti-heroes (a sympathetic wife who takes revenge too far and a shabby husband who doesn't deserve the death penalty) after Amy’s plan is revealed.  Then it once again changes to Nick becoming a sympathetic idiot while Amy looking crazier and twisted the more we learn about her past and present actions. 

By the film’s end Nick becomes the understandable tragic victim while Amy goes full psychopath, losing all sympathy built up earlier.  Yet while Fincher handles the film’s direction quite well, the impact of these twists seem to vary.  At times the changes are enjoyably appreciated and refreshing, such as when Amy is revealed alive, changing the film’s style to a duel perspective between Nick’s side and Amy’s; giving the film a unique charm where both sides are understandable, making rooting for either one difficult.  Other twists however, while far from bad, feel self-destructive when compared to earlier scenes…Amy brutally murdering her ex-boyfriend (Neil-Patrick Harris) for example; yes it was intensely shocking to watch, yet ultimately destroyed what remaining duel sympathy was left between Nick and Amy before handing her the psycho-villain calling card.

Gone Girl’s most shining feature, which was both unexpected (particularly from viewing the trailers) and much appreciated, was how it’s as much a black-comedy as a thriller-drama.  You could fool me into believing Gone Girl was directed by the Coen Brothers, with its dark and unapologetically twisted humor.  Examples include Nick’s Alzheimer-ridden father (who’s got the mouth of a sailor and the attitude of misery in-person), Nick not knowing his wife’s blood type (which all men should clearly know), a house alarm continuously going off, and the all-time kicker of Affleck's “heart-warming” welcome back proclamation to the unexpected reappearance of Amy.  Almost the entire cast is funny, with Ben Affleck successfully performing witty lines (see above sentence) and facial expressions (his reaction towards getting the first clue is adorably priceless) while Kim Dickens’ performance reminded me of a Missouri-version Marge from Fargo.  Strangely enough, Neil-Patrick Harris is one of the few characters to play his role without humor, instead having a somewhat creepy vibe which works surprisingly well.  Yet the film’s greatest accomplishment is one I never in my life expected to see…Gone Girl actually makes Tyler Perry funny!  Actually he’s the funniest character in the film, gaining the largest theater laugh (of which I was a part of) with one of the best reactions towards Nick and Amy’s relationship. 

One of the film’s comedic focal points is how the public/media use and react to events such as kidnapping and murder.  One TV host uses any hint to claim Nick committed the murder, even bringing on her show a “psychologist” who declares that, while she’s never met Nick, it’s clear he’s a sociopath with an incestuous twin relationship.  The entire “murder case” is based not around evidence, but using good publicity to change the public’s perspective, which switches from wanting Nick lethally injected to loving the misunderstood husband who can’t help but be an idiot.  There’s some truth in fiction here…actually there’s a lot of truth here, which ends up making the film all the more humorous while successfully holding its thriller/drama elements.  With its constant plot twists, deliciously dark/satirizing humor and highly enjoyable cast, Gone Girl succeeds as David Fincher's latest installment.  It may not be his finest work, with some plot bumps here and there, but at least Fincher feels naturally in his element.