So, we have now passed through one of the most underwhelming summer blockbuster seasons in recent memory and are now coming into Oscar season, which is looking promising if Gone Girl is any indication.
Without giving anything important away, Gone Girl is about two writers who are in what may not be the most healthy of marriages; but from the outside, look like a picture-perfect couple. Nick Dunne, played by Ben Affleck is married to Amy Dunne, played by Rosamund Pike. Amy is the inspiration for her parents' massively popular children's book series Amazing Amy, so she is a bit of a beloved celebrity. After the recession causes Nick and Amy to lose their jobs, they move from New York to Nick's native St. Louis, when they find out Nick's mom had cancer. After his mother died, they put down roots and Nick bought a bar. The move and the bar cause friction in his marriage with Amy until one day, he comes home to find the house overturned and Amy is missing. The police start an investigation, and as clues start to mount up, it seems Nick may or may not have killed his wife. Because of Amy's celebrity status, the case quickly becomes tabloid fodder and is being tried in the media. The rest of the movie hinges on did he or didn't he?
Another deliciously twisted movie by David Fincher, a director who has made a career of filming very unpleasant people and subjects (Alien 3, Se7en, Zodiac, Fight Club, The Social Network) with often very entertaining results. Parents of young people and prudes be warned, this is a very adult movie. While not gratuitous, it does have some pretty twisted imagery that isn't meant for the faint at heart. That said, it is a truly adult film that is a joy to watch. I actually found myself giddy in anticipation, smiling like an idiot as one plot twist after another drew me further and further into this excellent slow-burning potboiler of a story. I've been to enough of these films to usually see what's coming, but in this case, I was surprised time and again. This movie was so much fun, it reminds me of why I love them so much, to be so drawn into a story you are almost breathless in anticipation over what will happen next. The only reason I didn't give this film four stars was the final denouement, which contained a total flip flop on some characters' basic personalities. However, it could also be the movie does not take an easy way out. It sat wrong with me somehow, but as I think on it, seems totally in line with the movie's twisted pathways. Many of these types of movies paint themselves into corners they can't escape with twist after twist needing greater and greater leaps of faith. Gone Girl is not like that at all until the end as it seemed to me. While it lessened the impact of an otherwise excellent film, I don't believe it ruined it.
And if that wasn't enough, the film actually has something important to say. In our post-MTv, insta-celeb, JWow/Snookie, Honey Boo Boo, Kim/Kanye-obsessed culture, the power of the media has become paramount. Gone are the days when news programs actually had to report things of substance, or at the very least fact-check. All one has to do is flash a boob of scandal and the press becomes a pack of salivating, rumor-insinuating dogs with no accountability to the truth. The movie is not-so-subtly pointing the finger at Fox News and its news entertainment pundit shows in particular, but applies equally to all news programs. The 24-news cycle has created a style beast that ripped apart and swallowed the substance animal whole. Does it get in the way of Justice? Does it affect the normal course of a police investigation? And what kind of a voyeuristic, busybody society are we becoming that delight in the pain and troubles of others? In either case, evil has never been quite so fun as in this movie. If you love a story that will pull you in and not let go, this is the film for you. I loved every minute of it.
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