When going to see “Gone Girl” in theatres this weekend I must admit that my expectations were high. I hadn’t read the book, I had devoured the book. Just like millions of other people I found it completely captivating and haunting, so naturally I couldn’t wait for the movie. I really wanted to like it, I’m not one to say the book is always better then the movie or vice versa. I went in expecting to love it. It started off strong, I loved how the structure of the movie mirrored the structure of the book without being too exact.
One scene we would have an Amy voice over diary entry while the action of said entry was shown on screen. Then next we had a scene in which Amy’s husband, Nick Dunne played by Ben Affleck, was slowly realizing that his wife was missing and that something was not quite right with her disappearance. The pacing was good, they got through all the major plot points of the couples trials and tribulations without it ever feeling too drawn out or too rushed.
Unfortunately Affleck did a subpar job of playing the mild mannered, homecoming king, Nick Dunne. First of all, Affleck obviously shot “Gone Girl” while beefing up for his next big role as Batman. So we have a writer who owns a bar and teaches at a local college, that also looks like he could save Gotham, if need be. Plus most of Affleck’s scenes with other characters felt forced and inorganic. Affleck’s character has several vital scene with his sister, Go, played by Carrie Coon. While it was obvious that he was going for a sort of easy sibling banter with his co-star, It really just felt like Coon was doing all the work while Affleck’s character shrugged and occasionally looked mildly frustrated.
Affleck failed to deliver the passion and desperation his character needed for the end of the movie as well. I won’t spoil anything but suffice it to say that “Gone Girl” leads us through a long and twisted journey. At the end of the film the audience should be feeling that tension.
Affleck’s character never seemed too disgruntled by the insane situation going on around him. As each new level of mystery was revealed to him he might as well have sighed heavily looked at the camera and said “women, amiright fellas?” This gave the whole film an almost comedic affect that was not supposed to be there. In many cases the audience laughed out loud when they should have been feeling a far different emotion.
However Rosamund Pike’s performance was a different story entirely. It was her that made “Gone Girl” more of the haunting thriller that it needed to be. She managed to be everything that Amy needed to be and then some. She even manages to be relatable in some scenes, not an easy task
if you know how this story goes. Pike’s monologues are among the most powerful scenes in the movie. Her “cool girl” monologue, which the writers took almost word for word from the book, is an instant classic that will no doubt be dissected by feminists and film buffs for years to come. Some of the best scenes in the film were between her and Neil Patrick Harris, who plays Amy’s ex-boyfriend, Desi Collings. None of Collings lines are directly creepy, the way Harris delivers them is what turns your stomach. Pike and Harris’s seemingly benign conversations had all the tension and hidden meaning that was lacking in Pike and Affleck’s on screen chemistry.
While “Gone Girl’s” shocking twist and unique plot kept the film entertaining, it was still somewhat lacking. A lot of the film was taken almost word for word from the novel. Understandably the writers knew that millions of people had read this book and were expecting many of their favorite aspects of it to be intact. Still, the almost exact replica of some portions of the book felt like one too many secret winks to the audience. Leaving “Gone Girl” to boarder on cheesy for many of its more dramatic moments.
All in all “Gone Girl” is an entertaining film that got a bit too hung up on staying true to the book and was a little anti- climatic. I look forward to seeing Pike in more films in the future. I hope she does not get typecast but honestly I think after “Gone Girl” I would be very thrown off seeing her as the romantic lead in a rom-com. As for Affleck, better luck with Gotham, buddy.
