Gone Girl (2014)

When I think of my wife, I always think of her head. I picture cracking her lovely skull, unspooling her brain, trying to get answers. The primal questions of a marriage:
What are you thinking?  
How are you feeling?  
What have we done to each other? 

Directed: David Fincher (The Social Network, Fight Club, Se7en, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo)

Original Novel and Screenplay by: Gillian Flynn

Original Score: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (Watchmen [2019], The Social Network, Book of Eli, Soul)
Cinematographer: Jeff Cronenweth (The Social Network, Fight Club, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo)
Editor: Kirk Baxter (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Social Network)
Production Designer: Donald Graham Burt (Hostiles, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Social Network)
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
MPAA Rating: R, for a scene of bloody violence, some strong sexual content/nudity, and language
Starring: 

    Ben Affleck as Nick Dunne

    Rosamund Pike as Amy Dunne

   Neil Patrick Harris as Desi Collings

    Tyler Perry as Tanner Bolt

    Carrie Coon as Margo Dunne

    Kim Dickens as Detective Rhonda Boney

Plot

Nick Dunne begins his five year anniversary by spending some time alone and chatting with his sister at their bar. Some suspicious activity brings him back home where he uncovers some strange occurrences and his wife Amy missing. What unfolds for the rest of the movie defines the genre of "Mystery Thriller" as Nick is slowly implicated for the disappearance and possibly the murder of his wife while he maintaining his innocence. Simultaneous to all of this, Nick tries to solve Amy's anniversary scavenger hunt game to hopefully learn more about what happened in her last moments before her disapperance. 

Gone Girl is perhaps my favorite movie that adequately depicts what a full blown sociopath is capable of. The movie is slow, but that lends into the malicious and methodical nature of the crimes surrounding Amy's disappearance. I struggle to find the words to properly talk about this movie without giving away spoilers. Suffice to say this movie is such a wonderful rollercoaster, I wish I could experience it for the first time all over again.

Soundtrack / Score

The soundtrack in this movie is rather subtle most of the time, but there are some clever placements (many of which I missed on the first watch through), but anything more blatant would be a disservice to the tone the movie is trying to create. While not the best soundtrack objectively, it's still a 9/10 contextually. 

The score of this movie is too good. Reznor and Ross both have a very distinctive style (individually and when working together) that I can almost always pick out no matter what. However, unlike Elfman's music, I do not care that it is recognizable because it is always so good! Reznor and Ross find a way to weave tension into even the most hopeful of their compositions, which lends to the amazing uneasy feeling that follows you around in the dark throughout the whole movie, right up to the bitter end. I love every piece of music these two create, their work often pops up in tense moments during many of my my D&D games. 10/10 easy, one of the best parts of the entire movie.

Writing & Editing

I have nothing against the cinematographer and the work they did on this film, I just think there are much more worthy notes to praise. To start off, the writing. Gillian Flynn wrote the original novel and the screenplay for this film—I imagine that personal touch a writer has to their characters made its way onto the screen. The dialogue that every character has with each other, Amy's voice over in the first half of the film, every annoying side character that makes me want to commit a murder of my own; everyone is so well written. Flynn was very generous in this screenplay, and the actors took full advantage of that. 10/10, movies that make me want to read books are wonderful.

Baxter has worked with Fincher for a long time and I think the two of them have an understanding about the kind of movies they want to create. This familiarity and complimentary style is rare in Hollywood, and I love to see it when it does happen. The way this movies timeline is framed is essential to set the tone of the movie. The movie could've been cobbled together without Baxter's work, but it is just so much sweeter to have had him touch this project. 10/10 easy.

Final Thoughts & Overall Rating

Ben Affleck is not one of my most favorite actors, but when he gets it right he is incredible. His performance in Gone Girl may be one of my favorites (second to only Good Will Hunting). More than Affleck however, Rosamund Pike's performance is utterly captivating! She is so fucking talented and this is without a doubt the best work I've ever seen from her, and she absolutely deserved the Oscar nomination for the role. She is the narrator that guides us through this story, and the the face of the missing Amy. Carrie Coon as well did such an amazing job for the minor role she has in the film, I'd love to see her in more. Props to Neil Patrick Harris as well for his very convincing performance. This film is what every "Mystery Thriller" should strive to be— it has me on the edge of my seat every time, and I can honestly say that it is one of the few pieces of fiction that utterly pisses me off!

9/10

Beaux Score: 9/10 "Movies to distrust the people in your life to <3"

¡Tierra de Aguafiestas!

(Land of Spoilers)

Amy Fucking Dunee is seriously one of the most fucked up characters I have ever had the horror to see portrayed on film. Despite how every psychotic choice she makes causes my skin to crawl with anxiety about trusting anyone again ever, I can't help but admire her determination and planning with the same horrified curiosity one might admire a wildfire and its wake of destruction. I truly cannot give her performance enough praise.

My favorite subtle song to make it's way into the soundtrack was (Don't Fear) The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult—it literally made me laugh out loud in what is otherwise a very tense movie. The only reason this movie doesn't get a perfect score from is the pacing. I really believe this is an exceptional book, but method in which the story is delivered makes it feel like two different movies that you are being dragged through the mud for; it's exhausting. A final note, go back and watch the differences between the opening and closing shots of the movie. Particularly Nick's hand. Chilling end, truly.