My son likes me to review movies, so here goes with last nights. Se7en, Zodiac, The Social Network, Panic Room, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: all great movies. Even Alien3 is much better than its reviews at the time would have you believe. David Fincher a consistently powerful director: one of my favourites. So what went wrong with Gone Girl? Never credible, never human, never remotely like a marriage. Never thrilling (not so good for a thriller). I havent read the book. Perhaps its got something. But I never expected to be bored in a Fincher movie, and this one was DULL. Its not so much that you can guess the twists (you cant because theyre ludicrous): its that you dont care. And it wasnt just me that was bored. So was Ben Affleck, at least thats how he looked throughout. Rosamund Pike was having fun I think, exploring many degrees of cold. But she was the only one, and thats not enough. You know those 80s and 90s thrillers that are sometimes on late at night when you come home from an evening out and you watch them despite yourself and realise that though dated they are kind of crafted and engineered in such a way that they still work and somehow reward repeated viewings? They feature people like Harrison Ford, Michael Douglas, Bonnie Bodeila, even Richard Gere. Actually in the future those movies will include Zodiac and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. And The Social Network. Gone Girl isnt going to be one of those, despite the most extensive media hype Ive seen about a movie in a long time. When Gone Girl comes onto late night telly youll groan, remembering how dully daft it was, and turn over. Gone Girl should have been an answer to the argument that the best dark drama is now on TV (True Detective, Hannibal etc). But it isnt. I blame the writing fair and square. It is ostensibly a character based movie but it doesnt have any characters. Just sketches. Have you see Prisoners (a film which seems to get bracketed in the same category as Gone Girl, of dark modern suburban family thrillers)? Well you should. Prisoners is manipulative and occasionally gratuitous, but its a film full of credible characters, believable (though terrifying) plot development, and a genuine seat-edge chills. It looks like a proper Fincher movie and much of it is literally unforgettable. By contrast I suspect that even Fincher would have been bored with Gone Girl, sitting in the dark for two and a half hours as a paying punter. Go on, tell me Ive missed something here. But dont ask me what Gone Girl was actually about: its fading already. Gone.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 06:46:09 +0000
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