'Gone Girl' review by Captain Raptor
It's nicely appropriate for a film about hidden secrets and changing one's perception to star Ben Affleck. Who would have known that an award-worthy actor and director was hiding within a man whose CV includes Daredevil, Gigli and Pearl Harbour? But what's good for McConaughey is good for everybody else, and it's been an enjoyable reinvention thus far. The good streak is continuing, but as we saw with the reaction to his appointment to Batman, he's still got a long way to go before he's fully redeemed in the public conscience.
There's one short moment in this film that perfectly summarizes it: Rosamund Pike's character, Amy, has just experienced a truly awful, horrific moment. She sobs twice, then shakes her head, and suddenly it's a stony-eyed game face. It's a film full of duplicitous and unstable people trying to appear like everything's fine, to the point where one of the film's most honest characters is a lawyer who specializes in acquitting wife murderers. This ambiguity and tension massively benefits the film's two sections - the nail-biting mystery thriller of the opening hour, and the social satire that events have transitioned into by the end, where Nick (Affleck's character) tries to convince people of his innocence by making them like him rather than disproving anything. It's a remarkably smart film, filled with menace and intrigue in equal spades, and more than a few shocks thrown in for good measure. Despite being told from multiple unreliable perspectives and a non-linear time frame, it's a film that never unintentionally confuses or becomes wrapped up in itself. The dialogue is well-crafted, often blackly funny, and the film remains deeply atmospheric and gripping whilst cycling through numerous moods and tones.
The brilliance of Gillian Flynn's screenplay, and the mood set by David Fincher's superlative-as-ever direction, is enhanced by a slow, dangerous-sounding score and great performances from a well-cast crop of actors. Kim Dickens mixes stoicism, barely contained fury and deadpan wit as the detective in charge of the investigation, while Tyler Perry is a scream as the aforementioned lawyer, delivering every line with a cool exaggerated charm and perfectly personifying the total lack of morality that Gone Girl wallows in. However, the couple at the center of it all are undoubtedly the best performers, the glue that holds all the brilliance together without letting it spiral into absurdity. The plot takes so many surprising turns that even revealing the nature of their performances is something of a spoiler, but suffice it to say that Affleck and especially Pike demonstrate considerable proficiency and show so much range that their characters feel transformed by the end of the film. Even Affleck's physicality seems tailor-made for the role, his boyish charm and dopey smile makes him look innocent, his hulking physique and "evil chin" (a genuine line from the film) making him look capable of anything - although by judging his culpability on looks, I'm playing right into the very mindset this film disparages.
Gone Girl is a film that expertly builds suspense and then doesn't fail to deliver. It'll keep you second-guessing from beginning to end, and the answers are just as fascinating and troubling as the process by which we find them out. Flynn and Fincher have managed to create a tense and complicated world full of hatred, sex, violence and lies, and it's just an inventive story well told. The drama is sublime, and the satirical observations it makes are both true, and most importantly, interesting. An intelligent, unpredictable affair that's well performed, well put together and well, brilliant.
There's one short moment in this film that perfectly summarizes it: Rosamund Pike's character, Amy, has just experienced a truly awful, horrific moment. She sobs twice, then shakes her head, and suddenly it's a stony-eyed game face. It's a film full of duplicitous and unstable people trying to appear like everything's fine, to the point where one of the film's most honest characters is a lawyer who specializes in acquitting wife murderers. This ambiguity and tension massively benefits the film's two sections - the nail-biting mystery thriller of the opening hour, and the social satire that events have transitioned into by the end, where Nick (Affleck's character) tries to convince people of his innocence by making them like him rather than disproving anything. It's a remarkably smart film, filled with menace and intrigue in equal spades, and more than a few shocks thrown in for good measure. Despite being told from multiple unreliable perspectives and a non-linear time frame, it's a film that never unintentionally confuses or becomes wrapped up in itself. The dialogue is well-crafted, often blackly funny, and the film remains deeply atmospheric and gripping whilst cycling through numerous moods and tones.
The brilliance of Gillian Flynn's screenplay, and the mood set by David Fincher's superlative-as-ever direction, is enhanced by a slow, dangerous-sounding score and great performances from a well-cast crop of actors. Kim Dickens mixes stoicism, barely contained fury and deadpan wit as the detective in charge of the investigation, while Tyler Perry is a scream as the aforementioned lawyer, delivering every line with a cool exaggerated charm and perfectly personifying the total lack of morality that Gone Girl wallows in. However, the couple at the center of it all are undoubtedly the best performers, the glue that holds all the brilliance together without letting it spiral into absurdity. The plot takes so many surprising turns that even revealing the nature of their performances is something of a spoiler, but suffice it to say that Affleck and especially Pike demonstrate considerable proficiency and show so much range that their characters feel transformed by the end of the film. Even Affleck's physicality seems tailor-made for the role, his boyish charm and dopey smile makes him look innocent, his hulking physique and "evil chin" (a genuine line from the film) making him look capable of anything - although by judging his culpability on looks, I'm playing right into the very mindset this film disparages.
Gone Girl is a film that expertly builds suspense and then doesn't fail to deliver. It'll keep you second-guessing from beginning to end, and the answers are just as fascinating and troubling as the process by which we find them out. Flynn and Fincher have managed to create a tense and complicated world full of hatred, sex, violence and lies, and it's just an inventive story well told. The drama is sublime, and the satirical observations it makes are both true, and most importantly, interesting. An intelligent, unpredictable affair that's well performed, well put together and well, brilliant.
No comments:
Post a Comment