Gone Girl Blu-ray Review
Gillian Flynn has adapted her best-selling novel for the screen, and its leaps back and forth in time (for the first hour at least) make for fascinating storytelling as we follow the courtship and marriage of Nick and Amy during the seven years leading up to her disappearance, all intercut with present day (meaning 2012) events as the investigation takes on its own twists and turns punctuated by the ever-increasing media attention as the story goes viral and Nick becomes a pariah as evidence begins to mount against him. Flynn and director David Fincher seem to be taking particular relish in the media feeding frenzy that modern paparazzi journalism can generate symbolized by a noxious current events show featuring braying host Ellen Abbott (Missi Pyle who’s made a career out of portraying this special kind of scandal mongering harpy), the program pictured numerous times during the movie and the actual reporter eventually insinuating herself into the plot by film’s end. But Fincher uses his obvious distaste for this piranha-like behavior by making the constant light show of their flash equipment with any movement in the house beautiful in its ugliness, only one of several captivating images he manages during this two-and-a-half hour (which seems more like ninety minutes) extravaganza of deceit and subterfuge. Screen notations constantly keep us abreast of the timeline which we’re viewing, very helpful since the film with its flashbacks covers more than seven years. Many of the themes of movies in the Fincher filmography – from the twisty puzzles of Se7en through the unpleasant and unexpected enigmatic killer in Zodiac through the time shifting differing points of view in The Social Network – seem to have found their apotheosis in Gone Girl making it one of Fincher’s real career high spots.
The film is actually less of a mystery than it is an in-depth character study, and we spend considerable amounts of time delving beneath the polished surfaces of Ben Affleck’s Nick and Rosamund Pike’s Amy finding there individuals darker and more sinister than any of their surface dealings would have ever led us to believe. Their performances are both career best achievements, and their work together in etching the deterioration of a marriage from the giddy sexual highs to a drudgery of responsibility and feigned devotion is simply spellbinding to watch unfold (not to mention each of their solo moments where we are obliged to see busy minds at work and the subsequent seeds of their labor as our jaws drop to the floor). As the detective who never seems quite comfortable with the clues that she uncovers or the way the pieces fit together, Kim Dickens is excellent. No less so is Neil Patrick Harris as Amy’s high school boy friend whose concern over her disappearance sends red flags up in the audience’s mind and who figures prominently in the film’s second half in quite unexpected ways. Tyler Perry gets the job done as a brilliant criminal attorney Nick hires when things start to look ominous, and Carrie Coon as Nick’s twin sister has a most believable love/hate relationship going on with her brother. Casey Wilson as Amy’s best neighborhood friend, Patrick Fugit as a local policeman who never believes for a second Nick’s protestations of innocence, and Emily Ratajkowski as a too-close friend of Nick’s all complement the storytelling with fine performances.
Amazing Amy Tattle Tale: a reprint of one of the children’s books supposedly based on childhood exploits of Amy Dunne.
Digital Copy/Ultraviolet: code sheet enclosed in the case.
Movies that pull a surprising twist on the audience are usually among the hardest films to pull off successfully. All of the pieces must fit precisely for the twist to work, but those that manage it like The Usual Suspects or The Crying Game make for quite memorable moviegoing experiences. The brilliance behind David Fincher’s Gone Girl is that in it, the twist comes not quite halfway through the movie, and afterwards there are so many places where things could go wrong, and yet not only doesn’t it go wrong, but it begins to wind the audience up into even tighter knots with the newly provided information. Discussing movies like Gone Girl is tricky for fear of giving too much away to ruin anyone else’s initial enjoyment who hasn’t yet read the book or seen the film, but be advised that for admirers of intricate plotting in movies and characterizations that plumb far beneath the surface, this is a movie that will keep you talking for awhile.
Studio: Fox
Distributed By: N/A
Video Resolution and Encode: 1080P/AVC
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Audio: English 7.1 DTS-HDMA, Spanish 5.1 DD, French 5.1 DD, Other
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, Portuguese, Other
Rating: R
Run Time: 2 Hr. 49 Min.
Package Includes: Blu-ray, Digital Copy, UltraViolet
digipak in a slipcaseDisc Type: BD50 (dual layer)
Region: A
Release Date: 01/13/2015
MSRP: $39.99
The Production Rating: 4.5/5
Gillian Flynn has adapted her best-selling novel for the screen, and its leaps back and forth in time (for the first hour at least) make for fascinating storytelling as we follow the courtship and marriage of Nick and Amy during the seven years leading up to her disappearance, all intercut with present day (meaning 2012) events as the investigation takes on its own twists and turns punctuated by the ever-increasing media attention as the story goes viral and Nick becomes a pariah as evidence begins to mount against him. Flynn and director David Fincher seem to be taking particular relish in the media feeding frenzy that modern paparazzi journalism can generate symbolized by a noxious current events show featuring braying host Ellen Abbott (Missi Pyle who’s made a career out of portraying this special kind of scandal mongering harpy), the program pictured numerous times during the movie and the actual reporter eventually insinuating herself into the plot by film’s end. But Fincher uses his obvious distaste for this piranha-like behavior by making the constant light show of their flash equipment with any movement in the house beautiful in its ugliness, only one of several captivating images he manages during this two-and-a-half hour (which seems more like ninety minutes) extravaganza of deceit and subterfuge. Screen notations constantly keep us abreast of the timeline which we’re viewing, very helpful since the film with its flashbacks covers more than seven years. Many of the themes of movies in the Fincher filmography – from the twisty puzzles of Se7en through the unpleasant and unexpected enigmatic killer in Zodiac through the time shifting differing points of view in The Social Network – seem to have found their apotheosis in Gone Girl making it one of Fincher’s real career high spots.
The film is actually less of a mystery than it is an in-depth character study, and we spend considerable amounts of time delving beneath the polished surfaces of Ben Affleck’s Nick and Rosamund Pike’s Amy finding there individuals darker and more sinister than any of their surface dealings would have ever led us to believe. Their performances are both career best achievements, and their work together in etching the deterioration of a marriage from the giddy sexual highs to a drudgery of responsibility and feigned devotion is simply spellbinding to watch unfold (not to mention each of their solo moments where we are obliged to see busy minds at work and the subsequent seeds of their labor as our jaws drop to the floor). As the detective who never seems quite comfortable with the clues that she uncovers or the way the pieces fit together, Kim Dickens is excellent. No less so is Neil Patrick Harris as Amy’s high school boy friend whose concern over her disappearance sends red flags up in the audience’s mind and who figures prominently in the film’s second half in quite unexpected ways. Tyler Perry gets the job done as a brilliant criminal attorney Nick hires when things start to look ominous, and Carrie Coon as Nick’s twin sister has a most believable love/hate relationship going on with her brother. Casey Wilson as Amy’s best neighborhood friend, Patrick Fugit as a local policeman who never believes for a second Nick’s protestations of innocence, and Emily Ratajkowski as a too-close friend of Nick’s all complement the storytelling with fine performances.
Video Rating: 4.5/5 3D Rating: NA
Audio Rating: 5/5
Special Features Rating: 2/5
Amazing Amy Tattle Tale: a reprint of one of the children’s books supposedly based on childhood exploits of Amy Dunne.
Digital Copy/Ultraviolet: code sheet enclosed in the case.
Overall Rating: 4.5/5
Reviewed By: Matt Hough
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Terrific movie, though.
