"Fincher puts together an excellent puzzle"

Title: Gone Girl

Year: 2014

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Director: David Fincher

Writer: Gillian Flynn (written by); Gillian Flynn (based on his novel)

Runtime: 149min

Cast: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Kim Dickens, Tyler Perry, Carrie Coon, Neil Patrick Harris

Produc.: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Regency Enterprises, TSG Entertainment, Artemple - Hollywood, New Regency Pictures, Pacific Standard

Presup.: $61 million approx.

I think it wouldn´t be false, but just fair, to say that the quality of a good movie could be seen as directly proportional to its ability to captivate us. And I stress upon this for a very specific reason. Many of the greatest films have had probably got lots of errors that the enthusiastic viewer wouldn´t notice. For my part, after watching Gone Girl I could probably strive to recount the facts and perhaps come to the conclusion that there were some gross plot mistakes, but to be perfectly honest, I doubt anyone would want to spend five minutes of their lives trying to find them.

Anyone who´s seen Guy Ritchie´s Sherlock Holmes and liked it, probably would have overlooked if anything didn´t fit. The thing is that both, on the side of villains planning stuff, as in the deductive right guess of our detective, it´s so fast how it all happens, that to see the mistakes, if any, would be hard. What, however, isn´t for us so difficult to qualify as good, is the whole package.

The same could be said on the development of the facts in Now You See Me (2013), where events happen so fast that even once explained, one can´t do nothing but to force itself into believing them.

With Gone Girl it´s another case where many have decided to hate Fincher, unhappy with the unreliability of some things. I'm not a cop or possess detective skills, which maybe, these people did, but it's hard to believe that occasional inconsistencies could tarnish the whole argument. In any case, with or without errors, I think Gone Girl is a drama that qualifies as good.

It all begins one morning when Nick (Ben Affleck) leaves his place, to then return and that his wife has disappeared (as the title suggests). Thereafter, the plot revolves around a puzzled and confused husband who´s got to work along with the police, while having to be very careful with what he says or doesn´t, concerning their marriage. All this, while justice seeks to find out whether this ally who´s collaborating, might himself have been the one they´re looking. Only, maybe Nick is guilty, but of another kind of crime.

During part of the film Fincher has us pinned in finding Amy (Rosamund Pike) and the reason of her dessapearance. Then, with the answer unveiled, he´s got us witnessing a twist, and where he allows us to have a closer look at the relationship between Nick and Amy, and to the why Nick had to go find her.

It´s difficult to write without revealing too much, but something than I can say is that it's great the way it addresses the sometimes so evident ignorance and chatter of people, when outsiders think they know everything about someone they haven´t even met, being so easy to talk without thinking.

Gone Girl is about a marriage with very serious problems and about a man stuck in something he doesn´t know if there´s a way out. Nick must give honest answers to prove his innocence, while he deals with the public opinion, which does nothing but to destroy him.

My rating: 8/10

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