Stars Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens, Patrick Fugit with Neil Patrick Harris and Tyler Perry Directed by David Fincher Gone Girl somehow fits perfectly into David Fincher's usual filmography. It's dark and bleak with a twisted sense of humour, filled with some loathsome characters you'd just might root for. It's also the reason why I sometimes tend to stay away from his movies. Not that they're bad. They just tend to be bleak. He's even referred to this one as the anti-date movie. Or was it anti-marriage? Fincher's technical prowess is on full display shorn of any bravura moments that peppered his earlier works. (See the Alien POV in Alien3, the camera pans in Fight Club or Panic Room, the effects/make-up work of Seven, Benjamin Button.) The direction is far more controlled than before, carried on from the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Just as Michael Bay fills his movie with garish bright colours, Fincher leans in the opposite with often dark muted tones, and that works here to layer in the moodiness of the story. There's a shadow world, where secrets are being hidden. The performances are uniformly absorbing with Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike leading the pack. Both have their unique challenges, but the meat is more with Pike as the enigmatic Amy. To say more would be to give away too much and the movie is best as its being discovered. There are some narrative gymnastics going on that may be worthy of, say, Christopher Nolan, but it's more to the nature of the book and adaptation by Gillian Flynn. The nuances of the mystery may warrant additional viewings but the bleakness may keep some from viewing the movie more than once. It falls into the same camp as Seven. The narrative is absorbing, but the revelation of the mystery and the bleakness of the material may turn some away from repeated viewings. But then, you can't deny Fincher's brilliance at pulling it all off. Rating: ***1/2 /5
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