Gone Girl (2014)

[Jandrew]

I didnt want justice for Nick per se, I wanted repercussions for Amy. You are right, she did have subtle repercussions such as a Nick loving her, joyful marriage, money she had, peace: she lost that. I just wanted harsh repercussions, like jail, or at least people finding out shes not "Americas new sweetheart" or something to let the audience know there could be ramifications in the future, such as ending with Officer Rhodey finding some evidence to pin her to the murder, then cut to black, or something. Just my 2 cents. Thats how I wouldve done it. Kind of like an Inception ending: does that evidence fall through and she eventually get caught? Or does her and Nick live on and raise the kid? Up to you to decide.

You do explain it in a good way, Tele. Claire did as wel, and Pink. I mostly agree. As well done as it was now that you say that, I still cant give it an A ending, or my complete approval. Okay, its not an F, but it still upsets me a little. Like Blue Jasmine. You get so invested into this movie character and it builds and builds and builds and just when you think things are finally gonna come together for them, they get gutted. Thats like Sandra making it back to Earth in Gravity, then drowning because she cant get the suit off. Now I wast 100% sure Sandra would survive in Gravity, but if she did have to die, I wouldn't want it that way. Yall are right, itd be too typical of an ending for her to get caught, but at the same time, you never see the blonde female lose (in a harsh way), so at the same time its not so typical.

Your 4th point is really good and I agree with that and I see what yall mean by they deserve each other now, eventhouh I don't think Nick was that bad. I really just needed to process this more. This is why you shouldn't write reviews in the RTM right after the movie. Anyone. I don't buy into the first few pages where everyones giving movies straight A's. You haven't let it all sink in. I havent let all of GG sink in yet, but you, Claire, Pink, and others have let me see the end in a new light. Let me digest it a bit and get back to yall.

I also must say Tele, your dialouge is aweing. "Full on satire, the movie is concerned with hacking away at pompous and vile ways we adopt masks and personas in a sheer effort to win." Geez, why are you not a writer? That was vivid. So exuberant!

[Water Bottle]

I honestly feel like if Amy had gone to jail or she hadn't gotten away with it then the movie wouldn't have been as powerful. Not to mention but a "happy" ending would have flown right up against this movie's tone/intentions.

 

Sure you might have done it different. I would have done it differently too. I really dislike criticizing a movie for not doing what you wanted it to do because then you're not letting the director/writer tell the story they want to tell.

[Kevin Bacon]

I'm not sure why Nick is in any way being compared to Amy here. What's the worst thing he did? Cheat on her? Yeah, that's a pretty bad thing to do, but it's not that bad and hell, he was planning on getting a divorce. Amy manipulated countless people, faked her death, tried to get an innocent man the death sentence, ruined another guy's life, manipulated and then murdered Desi, ruined the reputations of several people in life and death. Nick's a guy with questionable morals but that hardly means being stuck with a homicidal psychopath is what he deserves.

[Water Bottle]

I'm not sure why Nick is in any way being compared to Amy here. What's the worst thing he did? Cheat on her? Yeah, that's a pretty bad thing to do, but it's not that bad and hell, he was planning on getting a divorce. Amy manipulated countless people, faked her death, tried to get an innocent man the death sentence, ruined another guy's life, manipulated and then murdered Desi, ruined the reputations of several people in life and death. Nick's a guy with questionable morals but that hardly means being stuck with a homicidal psychopath is what he deserves.

 

I agree with you although I feel like Nick going to the TV interview and saying what he said to get Amy to come back to him AND how he was violent towards her in the end show that he has the potential to be as bad as her. Of course, having that potential doesn't mean he deserves her unless he fulfills it.

 

Then again I'm on Team Nick.

[bcf26]

Another brilliant movie from David Fincher. Flawless performances from the actors especially Rosamund Pike and very nice direction. I must admit I loved the ending of the movie more than the book. I'll give it A-.   

 

I'm just sad that Desi's mom wasn't included the movie. She was like his alibi for the kidnapping and I would love to see the scene from the police station where she would be like "You fucking murdered my son you psychotic bitch". Yeah but maybe Fincher doesn't want so much drama in the movie so I can understand. 

Edited October 8, 2014 by bcf26

[JohnnyGossamer]

Another brilliant movie from David Fincher. Flawless performances from the actors especially Rosamund Pike and very nice direction. I must admit I loved the ending of the movie more than the book. I'll give it A-.   

 

I'm just sad that Desi's mom wasn't included the movie. She was like his alibi for the kidnapping and I would love to see the scene from the police station where she would be like "You fucking murdered my son you psychotic bitch". Yeah but maybe Fincher doesn't want so much drama in the movie so I can understand. 

That happens in the book? Hmm.

 

I like the theme the last few scenes drive home but I feel the execution by Fincher/Flynn could've been better. Likewise for the opening act. Just left me flat. Given how preposterous it all is and how painfully insincere/phony their courtship is, I'd have preferred Fincher/Flynn accented bullshit for more laughs. It's played a bit too straight for me. But, hey, that's just me.

 

A movie I highly recommend for you, Jandrew, given the ending you wanted, is Gus Van Sant's To Die For. Satirizes similar subject matter with, in my opinion, a much better performance by Kidman. It's also based on a book but, in its' case, a screenwriter with The Graduate on his resume adapted it as opposed to an novelist turned screenwriter. I'm always going to believe that holds this film back. I think Flynn ideal to assist in framing the screen story but, after that, give a talented screenwriter with a thick resume. The medium's are just too different to put that much faith in her to adapt her own novel.

Edited October 8, 2014 by JohnnyGossamer

[The Futurist]

How did´she get pregnant in the end, Batman says he didn t touch her ? I blinked and missed something ?

I didn t quite get Amy s original plan either, she has a lot of post its on her calendar that says Kill self ? She contemplates suicide because she s desperate or because this is the final act of her master plan ?

I like the fact this story was written by a women, imagine the shitstorm a male writer would have got for writing the female Hannibal Lecter of the married couple.

This gurl is quite resourceful to say the least.

[dashrendar44]

I like the fact this story was written by a women, imagine the shitstorm a male writer would have got for writing the female Hannibal Lecter of the married couple.

This gurl is quite resourceful to say the least.

 

?

 

"Psycho bitch" is a movie trope. Ask Michael Douglas, he (fatally) attracts them like poo attracts flies. Now the psycho bitch is the wife and not the mistress.

Edited October 8, 2014 by dashrendar44

[JohnnyGossamer]

How did´she get pregnant in the end, Batman says he didn t touch her ? I blinked and missed something ?

I didn t quite get Amy s original plan either, she has a lot of post its on her calendar that says Kill self ? She contemplates suicide because she s desperate or because this is the final act of her master plan ?

I like the fact this story was written by a women, imagine the shitstorm a male writer would have got for writing the female Hannibal Lecter of the married couple.

This gurl is quite resourceful to say the least.

Well, she used the same Nick stored at the fertility clinic. Initially I thought maybe Desi, but Tele set me straight. I think she only waited for him to finish for more rape evidence. I guess one could theorize that it could be his... But, given the ending, Fincher and Co. are clearly stating it's Nick's child.

 

I assume she was waiting to kill herself until the final nail was in the coffin for Nick. Not to mention, she's narcissistic as all get out and likely didn't have the stomach to actually go through with it. Until she's robbed, I fully believe suicide's her final act. BUT, she fails to go through with it, then she's robbed, then she relies on her resourcefulness as you said.

Edited October 8, 2014 by JohnnyGossamer

[JohnnyGossamer]

?

 

"Psycho bitch" is a movie trope. Ask Michael Douglas, he (fatally) attracts them like poo attracts flies.

Haha. Too true. Fatal Attraction, War Of The Roses, Basic Instinct and Disclosure all in 7 year span from '87 to '94. Not too mention, Douglas-less To Die For in '95. The trope was alive and well in that era. Hell, even Daniel Waters' treatment of Catwoman in his Batman Returns screenplay in '92 is a truncated version of the hip trend. Fincher certainly breathes new life into it with Gone Girl. Steve Shill gave a half-hearted attempted with Obsessed in '09.

 

Can't forget psycho goddesses of yesteryear like Betty Davis(Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?) and Barbara Stanwyck(Double Indemnity) either...

Edited October 8, 2014 by JohnnyGossamer

[The Futurist]

That Amy character is for the ages. I am definitely Team Amy, I adored her, everything about her was so fucked up and creative, loved every second of her, psychopaths are so hype right now. Poor Neal Patrick Harris, his fate was glorious.

Weddings stats are going down people.

[dashrendar44]

Haha. Too true. Fatal Attraction, War Of The Roses, Basic Instinct and Disclosure all in 7 year span from '87 to '94. Not too mention, Douglas-less To Die For in '95. The trope was alive and well in that era. Fincher certainly breathes new life into it with Gone Girl. Steve Shill gave a half-hearted attempted with Obsessed in '09.

 

The thing is I don't think that was Flynn's intent like this article stated in the last paragraph. But somehow in the process of adaptation, the movie became just one another "psycho bitch" flick when everyone sympathize with the poor cheating husband whereas in the book everything was grey, Nick is a egotist douchebag (all of his POV monologues, in which you learn that he is also self aware of manipulating people and faking his way out of things like Amy does, were severed from the movie) and you got more of the sense that Amy is the kind of "perfect" wife he deserved in the end because she's better than him at playing that creepy game that defines their "marriage".

 

The book was not about "Oh poor Nick doesn't deserve to be mistreated by this psycho bitch!" or "Psycho bitch needs to go to jail and justice be served right! TEAM NICK!", the book was about two troubled and delusional individuals mutually entangled into a web of lies and deceiving appearances that tie themselves from the get-go, in the end, from their twisted POV, the thought of severing this perverted relationship (like any sane person would do) becomes worse than complying, snapping at the risk of being ruined.(Nick got a taste of what it's like whenever he'd try to frame her). They're empty shells without each other.

Edited October 8, 2014 by dashrendar44

[The Futurist]

TEAM AMY FOREVER ! Batfleck was a boring husband through and through.

[JohnnyGossamer]

The thing is I don't think that was Flynn's intent like this article stated in the last paragraph. But somehow in the process of adaptation, the movie became just one another "psycho bitch" flick when everyone sympathize with the poor cheating husband whereas in the book everything was grey, Nick is a egotist douchebag (all of his POV monologues, in which you learn that he is also self aware of manipulating people and faking his way out of things like Amy does, were severed from the movie) and you got more of the sense that Amy is the kind of "perfect" wife he deserved in the end because she's better than him at playing that creepy game that defines their "marriage".

 

The book was not about "Oh poor Nick doesn't deserve to be mistreated by this psycho bitch!" or "Psycho bitch needs to go to jail and justice be served right! TEAM NICK!", the book was about two troubled and delusional individuals mutually entangled into a web of lies and deceiving appearances that tie themselves from the get-go, in the end, from their twisted POV, the thought of severing this perverted relationship (like any sane person would do) becomes worse than complying, snapping at the risk of being ruined.(Nick got a taste of what it's like whenever he'd try to frame her). They're empty shells without each other.

Sounds like a much more interesting movie. But, a more difficult story to relate on screen. I think they did well enough. What you described sounds a lot like Who's Afraid Of Virigina Woolf, Carnage, etc. All, or both, parties complicit in the madness and it's relatively obvious that's the case throughout.

Edited October 8, 2014 by JohnnyGossamer

[Plain Old Tele]

The thing is I don't think that was Flynn's intent like this article stated in the last paragraph. But somehow in the process of adaptation, the movie became just one another "psycho bitch" flick when everyone sympathize with the poor cheating husband whereas in the book everything was grey, Nick is a egotist douchebag (all of his POV monologues, in which you learn that he is also self aware of manipulating people and faking his way out of things like Amy does, were severed from the movie) and you got more of the sense that Amy is the kind of "perfect" wife he deserved in the end because she's better than him at playing that creepy game that defines their "marriage".

The book was not about "Oh poor Nick doesn't deserve to be mistreated by this psycho bitch!" or "Psycho bitch needs to go to jail and justice be served right! TEAM NICK!", the book was about two troubled and delusional individuals mutually entangled into a web of lies and deceiving appearances that tie themselves from the get-go, in the end, from their twisted POV, the thought of severing this perverted relationship (like any sane person would do) becomes worse than complying, snapping at the risk of being ruined.(Nick got a taste of what it's like whenever he'd try to frame her). They're empty shells without each other.

I got all this from the movie (I haven't read the book). Maybe it's more subtle than the book, but it's there.

[JohnnyGossamer]

I got all this from the movie (I haven't read the book). Maybe it's more subtle than the book, but it's there.

Instances that jump out in the movie with Nick looking altogether fake in changing face...

 

- Smiling at the press conference

- Grabbing the guy's doughnuts at the fundraiser

- His speech at the vigil

- His television interview

- His affair that he won't even admit to his twin sister, the only person he seemingly loves and only person that loves him

 

...so, in hindsight, you're right. It's there.

[dashrendar44]

I got all this from the movie (I haven't read the book). Maybe it's more subtle than the book, but it's there.

 

The book is more rancid about him.

[The Futurist]

The book is more rancid about him.

Maybe but I thought he was enough badly portrayed in the film, plenty of flaws to last a lifetime or marriage.

[JohnnyGossamer]

I really felt for Tom O'Hara. Seemed an okay guy. Likely the best of the three past/present suitors of Amy. And, the one that saw through her more quickly than the others. But, didn't see through her enough to realize what she was capable of...

[The Futurist]

I really felt for Tom O'Hara. Seemed an okay guy. Likely the best of the three past/present suitors of Amy. And, the one that saw through her more quickly than the others. But, didn't see through her enough to realize what she was capable of...

At first, love is blind and that s basically the main theme of the book/movie. You re a different person when you seduce someone and then when you have conquered the person, you inevitably change.