Gone Girl (2014)

Fun fact: like household pets, professional librarians generally like to mark their territory.

Since pissing on the corners of the shelves would draw down some awkward questions from senior management, however, we have to get sneaky about our methods. Still, the urge remains, especially in these uncertain times; we want to create a legacy, some sort of small reminder that I woz 'ere. The socially-approved way of doing this, therefore, is to tip the scales in the fiction section a little; to put in just a little bit more of what you love than you do of everything else, so people can get an idea of what sort of person currently rules the roost*

Before budget cuts and space reductions slashed my current fiction collection to one copy of Twilight and one of something identikit by Danielle Steel, it was satisfyingly heavy on literary fiction and the classier end of the crime novel market. I'd go on buying expeditions and look for anything with simple, bold covers devoid of any sort of romantic motif, and all would be good. There was only one hazard: I generally had a pretty good memory for what we already had in, but sometimes I'd slip up and we'd land up with multiple copies.  

I originally borrowed (one of our copies of) Gone Girl to hide this fact from my boss.

It was great, though - perhaps not great literature, but certainly great trash. It was an old-fashioned eat-your-life page turner, and I promptly passed my borrowed copy to Mr. Beaupepys whilst rapidly farming the other one out to a selection of equally delighted colleagues. The effect was dramatic - people who'd been unaware of my existence for years suddenly started remembering my name.

And then the fuss died down, and things went back to normal. I mostly forgot about this not-so-simple tale of the disappearance of one Amy Dunne. I can't really delve any deeper into the plot for fear of spoilers, but suffice it to say that none of the narrators can be truly relied upon. The key thing is that I mostly forgot about it, okay?

I still felt a quick thrill of delight when I heard it was being filmed, though, and from there things just got better. David Fincher signed on to direct, and I couldn't have been happier - is there honestly any better director out there when it comes to taking fun but preposterous nonsense and giving it a veneer of auteurial sophistication? Ben Affleck was cast in the role of everyman Nick Dunne, which was fine, but what really got me excited was the announcement of Rosamund Pike as Amy. Pike is always a solid and rather charming performer, and her icy, slightly chameleonic looks were exactly the way I'd pictured Amy in my head.

I didn't bother to see the film at the cinema because I wasn't sure it'd particularly benefit from the big screen, but the DVD release date seemed like the perfect time to give it a shot.

The good

As previously stated, this is a difficult film to discuss because of the necessity of avoiding spoilers. I can't really reveal anything about the plot, so generalities will have to do.

To summarize, then: I liked Gone Girl - I didn't love it, but I liked it. It was two and a half hours of slick, entertaining storytelling, and a perfect way to while away a chilly afternoon. The cast all did their jobs with style (and in Pike's case, a fair amount of nerve), and nobody was afraid to get their hands dirty. It was nicely staged, and the soundtrack slid into and out of place in all the right places. Despite the vaguely operatic story, things never seemed in any danger of descending into camp, and there's not honestly a lot more I can ask than that.

The bad

I just wish I hadn't read the book beforehand.

I'd actually had similar concerns prior to viewing Fight Club, another of Fincher's efforts based on a book that relied heavily on the shock of the twist. On that occasion I wasn't disappointed; if anything, it was a pleasure to see how Fincher treated the more metaphysical aspects of the book, and I was quite surprised by the emotional impact it had on me.

How can I put this delicately, though? ...Gone Girl the novel wasn't half so audacious as Palahniuk's Fight Club, nor half as smart, and frankly, there's not half as much material there to work with. What we're left with, therefore, is a thriller where the vast majority of the intended audience will already know all the killer surprises, which are very much the unique selling point.

The verdict

A fun, entertaining thriller just like any number of other genre entries out there. Recommended, I guess, but don't expect it to rock your world. 

 

*It also means that if you're savvy, qualifying as a professional librarian can ensure you never need to shell out your own cash on another book in your life.