Sunday, October 12, 2014

Movie Reviews from the Sideline: Gone Girl (2014)

Should you take your significant other with you to see Gone Girl (2014)?

No. No. No. Never. Don't do it. Also, don't take your parents with you to watch this movie. Or your kids. In fact, if this type of movie appeals to you, you may want to go by yourself and not tell anyone else that you went.

Gone Girl (2014) is a murder mystery with a twist. (I couldn't possibly give it away.) Basically, it follows the fairy-tale romance of two magazine writers Nick and Amy Dunne (Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike). As romance turns into marriage, their relationship slowly seems to disintegrate until, one day, the wife disappears. The husband quickly becomes the primary suspect and the audience is left to wonder, at least until the third act, if the mild-mannered-but-romantic main character is really as likeable as he first appears.

The thing about this movie that surprised me (and yes, that is because I didn't read the rating as carefully as I should have) is how overtly and intensely sensual (read sexual) this movie is.  While the main thrust of the plot is to show an intricate interplay of power and revenge, both the story and the visual imagery play on the delicate balance that exists between the erotic and the manipulative. Of course, this being Hollywood, the artistry of expressing that theme through subtle suggestion and character development is quickly discarded in favor of explicit sex scenes and gory bodies (albeit beautiful bodies) in serene locations. Coming right after a Fifty Shades trailer, this reviewer couldn't help but think that the filmmakers' primary goal was to capitalize on an aesthetic clearly in vogue with certain demographics.

The main cinematic weakness of this movie is its length. Director David Flincher has a story to tell, and he seems willing to let the movie go on and on to get it told. Every angle of the main character's life is unraveled, all the consequences of his decisions are teased out, every side character given their time to shine. While this might be some audiences' cup of tea, the result is a movie that feels like it should have been a miniseries, if any of the actors could have been paid enough money for such a thing. As we move into the third act, where, finally, the plot starts moving to its (somewhat anticlimactic) conclusion, the denouement becomes so lengthy and intricate that it is bound to make many moviegoers feel like they have just finished studying for an exam or reading a novel. This film is exhausting.

The good thing about this movie is the acting, well, except for Neil Patrick Harris whose attempt to take on a serious dramatic role falls flat on its face. The actors really pull out all the stops to convince us that their characters really are as crazy as the plot makes them out to be.  The result is mesmerizing, even if the lines they are reading are way too hipster and artsy.  We can almost forgive the movie for its slightly anachronistic props.

In essence, imagine what would happen if you found a really good writer and a really good director, made them read soft-core porn and Sherlock Holmes novels for a week and then doused them in craft beer. That is pretty much what we have here.

My rating: C-

2 comments:

  1. Very valuable review, and well written. I was thinking about seeing this movie but now I think I'll just wait for the Hobbit! hehe =)

    Doused in craft beer? Does that symbolize the hipster overtones of this movie's dialogue?

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  2. It does. The dialogue is nauseatingly artsy and wrapped in suburban privilege.

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