Gone Girl

Directed by David Fincher, Written by Gillian Flynn

Film

After reading the novel a few months back and loving that I was very eager to see this very well regarded adaptation by one of my, shocker, favorite directors. However due to general lethargy it did not come around until just now, and I am very glad to have finally done so. As my dad has pointed out on many occasions, this is perfect role for Ben Affleck – even reading the book he is a pitch perfect version of Nick Dunne – and the stellar casting continues from there. While no one else is nearly as high profile as him, every single cast member plays their rather down to earth roles to perfection. The screenplay deserves significant praise, taking a surprisingly lengthy novel and trimming off aspects that would have distracted from the core story and themes. As others have remarked, Laura Crone comes to mind but probably many others too, the shift to film allows for an increased level of objectivity presented in the alternating perspectives that enables for the mystery to be maintained for longer than in the novel. This was very very very good. I might be a scrub, and need to rewatch some of the scant few of his films I’ve seen, but this might be in the running with Fight Club as his best.