Holy. Moly.
David Fincher's film version of Gone Girl hit theaters this weekend, and since my book club read this book a few months ago (click here to see my review), we decided to go see it as a group.
And oh boy, did Fincher capture the book pretty much perfectly on film or what? There were some aspects that were even darker than the book (Desi's "offing" especially), and only a few differences and characters left out or downsized, probably because of time restraints (the movie is already over two and a half hours), but he pretty much got the twists and turn of the plot down pat. And, contrary to rumors that had been going around prior to release, the ending is pretty much the same as the book. I know many had their hearts set on a new conclusion... sorry guys.
The film stars Ben Affleck as Nick Dunne, and Rosamund Pike as his wife Amy, who move from New York to Nick's home town in Missouri after losing their jobs during the recession, and when Nick's mother becomes ill. On their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy goes missing, and Nick is blamed for her disappearance and suspected murder.
Affleck was perfect as the sometimes (or more-than-sometimes) unlikeable Nick, and Pike's "Amazing Amy" was just that. Spot on. Oscar worthy even. And Trent Reznor's score was perfectly haunting.
This film is rightly rated R for very strong violence, language, adult and sexual situations, and nudity. I would definitely recommend it only for VERY mature high schoolers (we're talking the oldest of the senior class here), possibly even college-age and up.
I give this one an A-.
I was talking about the movie yesterday with my mom, and she noted that Gillian Flynn was actually the screenwriter for the movie. Maybe with the success of this movie, Hollywood will start letting more authors write screenplays for their books!
ReplyDeleteYes! That would be so great if the authors could write the screenplays for their own books! Let's make this an ongoing thing Hollywood!
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