Today I saw the much-talked-about movie of this season “Gone Girl” starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. Both have done their roles very well, especially Rosamund Pike as the neighbourhood girl a whole city loves. The story is about the disappearance of a man’s wife, with blood stains in the kitchen and soon after, the police suspect the husband. The twist is on what really happened, is the husband the real culprit or not? It’s not a unique storyline, but the screenplay and the direction were captivating. Until the last 30 minutes, you are left guessing the real motives. Neil Patrick Harris has underplayed his supporting role well, not much meat for him though. I liked the sister role (Margo Dunne) played by Carrie Coon, she has brought out a caring sisterly love, nicely on the screen.
The movie shows how TV media (particularly in the USA) is easily manipulated, with everybody playing to the gallery. To succeed it doesn’t matter whether you are telling the truth, but you got to be a “Trained monkey” in front of the camera. It shows how the idea of public opinion of what is justice is influenced based on viewer ratings and not on facts. The role of the Police to do crime investigation in this story has been portrayed to be limited. They are led to conclusions by the shreds of evidence that get discovered, rather than the result of any major detective work by them. In a way, this highlights crime evidence in real life is never black ‘n’ white, they don’t spotlight good and bad that sharply.
I would have preferred a clean ending, with bad people getting punished, and good living happily ever after. But the climax turned out to be different and disturbing, but that has made the movie stand out from the crowd. The climax is what got me to write the next paragraph. Overall a good thriller to enjoy.
Your home is supposed to be the safest place, and your spouse living there is your most trusted person in the whole world. What happens when this trust breaks down? When one is plotting against the other, without the knowledge of the other. What’s the meaning of your life when you need to live together with a sociopath murderer? And that’s what the movie Gone Girl is all about.
Gone Girl (2014)