Cinematic Releases: Gone Girl

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David Fincher's Gone Girl is released today. We solve the mystery. Is it good or not?
"Hmmm....I know a certain
crime fighter that could find
her. Nevermind. Sequel idea."
Cinematic auteur, David Fincher, brings forth a picture that paints a transfixing American nightmare with full transparency. Gone Girl is not just a movie about a wife gone missing, but is Fincher's stunning commentary on modern cable news, the effects of social media , and how we live our lives predicated by how slanted news anchors want us to view their latest victim.

 Fincher is in perfect form as he uses his signature style to exacting perfection, all the while making impeccable tonal use of Reznor's musical fortitude and the excellent acting talents he's surrounded himself with. To say this is his best might be stretching it. Yet, there are no complaints with his latest theatrical achievement. Gone Girl has the continued markings of a director that rises above the norm every time he lays his hands on a script.

 And this is no exception. He transposes his visual method to Gone Girl with his trademark approach as audiences are granted access to another feature that looks just as good or better than his Girl With a Dragon Tattoo or The Social Network. Once again, he uses the "less is more" technique to continued success. It gives films like Gone Girl a realistic but cold dynamic feel in a time when most directors are worried about big effects shots and as many quick edits as possible. By all accounts, Fincher is a minimalist that knows how to make a simple picture appear grand in scale.
"What?! I'm Batman!!
Get over it!"
As a film based in our reality, Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike bring their best game forward in Gone Girl. Affleck is in sterling form as domestic counterpart, Nick Dunne. He continues to show growth as a dramatic actor while verifying that he can pull off a natural performance as an every man under the scrutiny of the cops, the news vampires, and the watchful eye of everyone around him. But, the real show stopper is Rosamund Pike. Gone Girl finally give her a chance to shine and she not only brings the goods, but makes her first honest attempt at taking the Oscar. She plays trophy wife, Amy Dunne, with certainty and precision and never hesitates in her instinctive delivery of character. Bluntly, she's the sexually charged, perfect embellishment of the modern struggles of snobby, upper class, American housewives everywhere.
"Scrubba-dub-dub-hot-girl
in-a-tub!"

The supporting cast is rounded out by a freaky Neil Patrick Harris, Patrick Fugit, Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens, and an engaging Tyler Perry that brings a little fun to this dire situation. Under the careful control of Fincher, all the actors in Gone Girl live up to the expectations of these perfect casting decisions.  All of them succeed at creating believable real life characters that just want to know, did Nick Dunne murder his wife?

 Gone Girl is an all encompassing motif that takes jabs at our obsession with media coverage, the people that hound victims, the bottomless seething pit of social media jargon, and the people that follow it all like lost puppy dogs. It's also a commentary on how we as a people automatically jump to conclusions without knowing the full truth. Gone Girl is Fincher's ode to the myth of the American dream. And it's damn good.
-CG