“Gone Girl”
Movie review

It is rare for a movie to follow the exact storyline of its corresponding book, but David Fincher’s “Gone Girl” kept the book’s fans satisfied and stayed true to author Gillian Flynn’s thriller.

Fincher, best known for directing “Fight Club,” brings the story of Amy Dunne’s suspicious disappearance to life. Just as in the novel, Nick Dunne is trapped in a media circus while attempting to prove his innocence.

Ben Affleck stars as Nick Dunne. An unlikeable character from the first scene, Affleck brings the shy and dissociative Nick to life. In one particular scene, Nick is caught smiling at a press conference for his missing wife, and Affleck gives the same strange “Is he guilty?” look that characterizes Nick in the novel.

Rosamund Pike plays Amy, one who is not nearly the helpless victim she seems, and the performance is already catching the Oscar buzz. She takes on this psychological role with brilliance and vigor. 

Another actor worth noting is Neil Patrick Harris. He plays Amy’s ex-lover/ex-stalker, Desi. A turn from his playboy persona as Barney Stinson on “How I Met Your Mother,” Harris shows the wide range of his acting ability and is perfect as a creepy old flame of Amy’s. 

One element that helped this film’s cinematic flow was the soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails. They create hauntingly beautiful music with an edge that kept viewers on the edge of their seats, desperate to know what happens next. 

With a talented cast and crew, “Gone Girl” brings the twisted novel to life and remains one of the must-see movies of the fall. 

“Gone Girl”
Book review

“This man of mine may kill me,” Amy Dunne wrote in her diary. Her husband Nick steps out of the house for a while to check on his bar. A concerned neighbor calls him home. The door is ajar — the couch is overturned, and their glass table has been shattered — Amy is gone.

The New York Times called “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn “icepick sharp,” and that statement could not be more accurate. 

In her 2012 novel, Flynn explores the disappearance of Amy Dunne on her fifth wedding anniversary. Nick soon becomes the prime suspect and the center of a media frenzy that raises the question: who’s actually the victim in this whole mess? Flynn constantly complicates the plot and throws her audience for multiple loops.

Amy, the daughter of two psychologists who wrote the “Amazing Amy” book series throughout her adolescence, is pulled away from the fast paced glamour of New York City by her husband Nick to a small town in Missouri. The community is split down the middle on believing or doubting Nick. Flynn throws readers by using a double narration of Amy’s diary entries and Nick in present time. Halfway through, at the end of book one, Flynn jars her audience and changes the way we see Nick and Amy.

The story itself has many layers, and Flynn takes two unlikable characters and changes the readers’ perceptions of how people portray themselves and how they really are on the inside. This psychological thriller keeps readers turning pages, begging to know how it ends.