Movie Adaptation Review: Gone Girl

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image source: here. edited by me.

MOVIE ADAPTATION of Gone Girl
read my review on Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

"What have we done to each other? What will we do?"

I was so happy when I finally found Gone Girl's movie adaptation! After finished reading the book, I'm really curious how the movie will try to deliver the story. Because it can be quite tricky with all the flashbacks and going back and forth between Nick and Amy in the book. But after I finished watching the movie, it turns out they did an amazing job. And now I also understand why this movie didn't get to premiere in my country. There's nudity, sexual content, lots of cursing, and also blood in it. So for those of you who planned to watch this, please make sure you're at an appropriate age to watch those things. Without further ado, here's my non-spoiling review on the movie adaptation of Gone Girl.

The movie starts with Nick Dunne finding out that his wife, Amy Dunne, disappeared on their 5th year anniversary. After reporting to the police, the investigation begins—and Detective Boney found suspicious things around the house. As the whole town is searching for Amy, Nick's behaviour didn't really shows that he's worried—and that brings more suspicion towards him and puts Nick in a bad light. Furthermore, Nick hasn't been completely honest throughout the investigation. And as Nick tried to solve the treasure hunt Amy made for their anniversary, he discovered something else that will explain it all.

"When I think of my wife, I think of her head, I picture cranking her lovely skull, unspoiling her brains, trying to get answers.. the primal questions of any marriage."

That is all I would dare to give for the plot summary to avoid any kind of spoilers. Because any spoilers will just totally ruin the story. But if you've read the book, you'll already know what happens with Nick and Amy, and you know how crazy it gets. And since I just recently finished the book, the story is still very fresh in my mind, so I was totally comparing the movie adaptation with the book. Of course the two are different in several ways, but I think the movie managed to deliver all the important details perfectly. Obviously, I wasn't surprised with anything in the movie adaptation, because I already knew everything beforehand. However, the movie still feels thrilling, intense, and very twisted—just like the original book is. Very very twisted.

 

And now let's talk about the stars: Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike who played as Nick and Amy Dunne. Seriously, I really feel like giving them a standing ovation for their performance in this movie adaptation. I've watched several Ben Affleck's movies and I know he's a good actor—he just proved it again through this movie. I think Ben Affleck portrayed Nick Dunne's character perfectly. I couldn't imagine anyone else playing as Nick Dunne—especially with the cleft chin. He acted really well to make himself look suspicious with that charming smile of his and also the way he talks. Everything is perfectly acted out, and I'm very impressed.

"I will practice believing my husband loves me but I could be wrong."

Oh, Rosamund Pike, I just want you to get an award for your performance in Gone Girl. Firstly, since I've read the book, I already had a prejudice against her (but hopefully that didn't spoil anything). And maybe it's just me, but I feel like there's something haunting in the way she talks and even the way she looked at people. Just looking at her face give me chills. But don't quote me on this, because like I said, I already had a certain 'image' of her from the book. I just wish the movie would talk more about Amy's life history and what made her that way (because it's explained briefly in the book)—so that people can sympathize with her.

I also really liked Kim Dickens as Detective Rhonda Boney and Tyler Perry as Tanner Bolt (Nick's lawyer). I think both of them also did an excellent job portraying each of their characters. Detective Boney certainly gave fair judgement towards Nick. Even though she wanted to believe Nick is innocent, all the evidence are proving otherwise. And Tanner Bolt is exactly like how I imagined him to be when I read the book; he's very reliable and sturdy (?), if that's the correct word to describe him. In short, all the main characters are very....interesting.

 

 

I don't really have a favorite scene, even though I did enjoy the movie as a whole. But even if I do have a favorite, I won't mention it here, because I'm afraid it might lead to any kind of spoiler. I chose the GIFs that I use in this post very carefully as well to avoid spoilers as much as possible. The movie is about 2-and-a-half hours long, but it actually doesn't feel that long. I really admire the works of the director, David Fincher. For the whole movie, everything felt intense, thrilling, and always had a gloomy/shady mood to it. Which I think is the perfect mood for the story. I know there are mixed reviews related with the movie adaptation (or even the book itself), but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

Overall, even though there are still some things I hoped the movie would portray, I still think the movie adaptation do justice to the amazingly twisted book. The movie indeed made some alterations in several scenes to emphasize things better; and also cut out some irrelevant ones. But as I've said earlier, it still delivered the most important points of the storyline (whether emotionally or character-wise). I think they did a great job since Gillian Flynn (the novel writer) also took part in writing the screenplay as well. Just one small thing I'm a little disappointed about, which is the ending. Why does it have to be different than the book? Because I think the book's ending is perfect; but the movie's ending is a bit bland and pointless. I was highly anticipating Nick Dunne's final line (from the book) in the movie, but oh well, it's still a good movie anyway.

Since I watched this by myself, I'm really curious what other people (who didn't read the book) think about this movie. Have you watched this movie? What do you think about it?—especially if you didn't read the book first :))

 

by.stefaniesugia♥ .