Director: David Fincher
Cast: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris
Release Date: Now Available on Blu-ray & DVD
A Review By: Kevin Lovell
Film Rating: 9.5/10
Disc Rating: 8/10
Plot Summary:
GONE GIRL— directed by David Fincher and based upon the global best seller by Gillian Flynn — unearths the secrets at the heart of a modern marriage. On the occasion of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) reports that his beautiful wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), has gone missing. Under pressure from the police and a growing media frenzy, Nick’s portrait of a blissful union begins to crumble. Soon his lies, deceits and strange behavior have everyone asking the same dark question: Did Nick Dunne kill his wife?
When Nick Dunne (Affleck) arrives home on his fifth wedding anniversary to find his wife missing and signs of a struggle present in their home, he calls the police and reports his wife missing. As the case of his missing famous wife (known for being adapted in her parents famous children’s book series ‘Amazing Amy’) spreads, each new revelation begins to make Nick appear more guilty and the police among others begin to suspect that the one person who may have answers to Amy’s disappearance is none other than her own husband. Soon Nick begins to investigate Amy’s disappearance himself and as new revelations are revealed and more facts become known, he begins to discover things may not be quite as they appear.
‘Gone Girl’ is directed by the incredibly talented filmmaker David Fincher (director of ‘Fight Club’, ‘Se7en’ and ‘The Social Network’) and based upon the acclaimed global bestselling novel of the same name by Gillian Flynn, who himself also penned the screenplay for the film version. Fincher once again does a fantastic job at the helm and perfectly handles guiding this riveting thriller from Flynn’s unique screenplay. Fincher’s always impressive directing capabilities along with Flynn’s solid script are also greatly complimented by fantastic performances around the board from a talented and more than capable cast including the likes of Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens and a number of others, all of whom deliver noteworthy performances in each of their respective roles.
Yet another phenomenal film from acclaimed directed David Fincher, ‘Gone Girl’ is a powerful, emotional and visually gorgeous journey into the exploration of an everyday marriage and the potential terror that could find us at a moment’s notice and change everything forever. The rich colors and gorgeous shooting choices so common of Fincher’s work are on rich display here once again. Even the simplest and most seemingly unnecessary scenes stand out and have a real beauty to them. One such example is a sequence in which the cat is in the dark of night standing inside the doorway and looking up at the door while flashes from paparazzi cameras accentuate its appearance in a uniquely beautiful way. These shooting choices contribute greatly to this already impressive film and the result is yet another outstanding effort from director David Fincher. ‘Gone Girl’ is easily one of the best films of 2014 and one that is not to be missed. I would definitely give it my highest recommendation.
VIDEO:
The Blu-Ray release of ‘Gone Girl’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 2.40:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks fantastic as a whole and this Blu-Ray release is unquestionably the best possible way to view this truly fantastic and visually striking film. The prominent colors and scenery that contribute so greatly to the overall experience of the movie look wonderful and all of the activity and shapes in every sequence (both dark and light) look fantastic here. This is a top notch high definition video presentation with no notable faults to be found within on my end.
AUDIO:
The Blu-Ray release features a lossless 7.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This lossless soundtrack sounds wonderful and is a perfect contribution to the overall viewing experience of ‘Gone Girl’. While many sequences keep a calm and quiet demeanor, others beautifully accentuate this lossless soundtrack, most noticeable in the clarity and wonder of the films phenomenal score which was composed by Atticus Ross and frequent David Fincher collaborator, the incredibly talented Trent Reznor who has composed previous scores for the director, all of which are fantastic and his work on ‘Gone Girl’ is certainly no exception. As with the video presentation, this lossless 7.1 channel DTS-HD MA soundtrack gets top marks and should definitely please the masses.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The Blu-Ray release of ‘Gone Girl’ doesn’t include too much in the way of bonus content, but it does include a couple of nice little extra goodies. The sole bonus feature included on the disc is an Audio Commentary track with Director David Fincher which is at least a far more notable bonus feature than many releases see today. The Blu-Ray release also includes a nicer case than most films and additionally includes something which I found to be a pretty unique and great little addition: a collectible ‘Amazing Amy’ book which is printed on very nice and solid paper and fully illustrated.
*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.