Gone Girl

This seemingly careless directorial style, in which every scene has its place, is slowly starting to bother me. Because it has never been as impersonal in David Fincher's interpretation as it is here. And if a dramatic thriller, whose essence lies in relationships, lacks even a hint of chemistry or tangible emotions between Nick and Amy, that's a disappointment. And if they also lack it in those moments when they are supposed to be a couple in love or overflowing with hatred, I realize that I am not getting nearly as much as I would like – and probably should, considering the topic. The complicated journey of the lost girl and the people around her is significantly less sophisticated or surprising than it promises most of the time. Relationships may be hard work and a science – but they're definitely not like this. (02/01/2015)

I haven't seen a movie this suspenseful in a long, a truly long time. It's so terribly suspenseful that after the first line I was ready to rewind the film to the end to see how it would turn out. It blends so many things that I love in movies. Unexpected twists and turns, engaging narration from the main heroine, and... one big game. And the best part is the insightful, even clinical way in which it's filmed. I have no complaints about the cast either. I'm simply and plainly blown away and if anyone asks me for a movie recommendation this year, this one will immediately jump out at me. Anyway, I'm off to buy the book this weekend. 5 stars. (21/01/2015)

Like Paul Thomas Anderson, David Fincher is moving toward an increasingly subdued and austere form of perfection in his directing. After the first part of their respective filmographies, which was characterised by ostentatious formal bombast culminating, in Fincher’s case, in Panic Room with abundant playing with flying camerawork in flawless reality-defying approaches, greater efficiency and modesty are increasingly becoming hallmarks of their later films. That doesn’t mean that Fincher and Anderson have become some sort of ascetics, but only that their mastery is reflected in the fact that they do not in any way attract attention to themselves. We could almost mention the return of studio style, where the form also served to maximally draw viewers into the story and did not have to draw attention to itself, except this time it’s not a matter of following certain conventional rules, but expressing flawless familiarisation with the craft and maximally well-though-out composition of every shot so that it serves the work as a whole. Gone Girl is Fincher’s riveting masterclass on outwitting viewers, where at the same time we are astonished not only by the narrative (typically about characters who deceive those around them and inventively work with their own image), but also by how seemingly easily and subtly the film guides us and keeps us chained to the screen and holding our breath throughout its runtime. (11/11/2020)

Gone Girl is a really good atmospheric drama, the kind probably only David Fincher can make. But that’s my problem – whenever I see Fincher and a thriller, I expect something in the vein of Seven. But as opposed to this flick, everything about Seven was perfect. In this case, the movie is close to perfect, which is also why I was originally going to give it a five-star review. But as time went on, I decided to take one star off because there were things in the movie that messed up the perfection. Take for instance Neil Patrick Harris. His character was good, but I’d never cast him into a serious thriller like this. He simply doesn’t belong into movies like that, no matter how hard he tries. You may have noticed that nobody even mentions him here. By contrast, Rosamund Pike puts in a performance that will be really hard to ever to surpass for her. I hadn’t seen such a good performance in a long time and I will not forget it any time soon, if ever. Despite her perfect performance, you still have Ben Affleck, about whom I really don’t know what to think. I definitely wouldn’t say he’s stiff, which is what a lot of people here are saying, I simply didn’t know where to put him. It seemed to me he had no opinions of his own and I still feel the same way. Well, and these three actors portray probably the three most important characters in the movie. And that’s where it all starts from and also what it lives and dies with. As regards the story, it’s absolutely clear to me why Fincher had picked it. The same way it was clear to me why he’d picked the ‘Millennium Trilogy’. It’s obvious that he likes stories like these. He simply loves the unexpected twists. Let me just add that this movie didn’t get five stars because the ending was cut off unnecessarily fast. I would have expected some kind of conclusion that would knock me off my feet and that I could keep thinking about without having to get back to the movie as a whole. Simply some knock-out ending. Something similar to what you get in Shutter Island. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, hence the four-star review. At the same time, I think that it is one of the best movies Fincher has ever made. If he just went on making movies like this, I wouldn’t mind at all. (10/10/2014)

Bitching about Fincher playing it safe is like badmouthing Jagr for his hockey finesse and scoring goals. This narrative, directed with the precision of a neurosurgeon, for whom the camera is the scalpel and the music the anesthetic, precisely doses the marital crisis with a cool detachment, in which the apparent waters of detachment are navigated by actors who have every letter of the script pinned directly to their bodies. Affleck's worldliness with the hallmark of a small-town dweeb works, but Rosamund Pike reigns supreme. Their interaction is something you experience on screen once or twice every three years. It’s a perfectly polished film that knows it and isn't ashamed of it. The first and last shots are divine. (09/10/2014)