Gone Girl: Adapting to Success

BY REBECCA BROWN

The film adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl by director David Fincher is a thrilling and eery representation of an incredible novel. Raking in over $136 million at the box office, this blockbuster has earned its spot as one of the top thrillers of 2014.

The film succeeds in staying remarkably close to the book’s original plot, a pleasant change compared to many other book-to-screen adaptations, as author Gillian Flynn was given the rare opportunity to write the screenplay herself. Ben Affleck stars as Nick Dunne, delivering a believable representation of a brooding character you either love or hate. Alongside Affleck, Rosamund Pike stars as wife Amy Dunne, the innocent-turned-sinister missing woman central to the story. Pike captures the initial beauty and grace of the character, but is able to change drastically in the eyes of the viewer as the plot charges on. [pullquote]..the media’s perspective is ever-present in today’s society and deserves to be highlighted on the world’s stage[/pullquote]The film lags in developing Neil Patrick Harris’s character, Desi Collings, as he’s portrayed as an overprotective yet alright-guy, leaving more of this character’s dark side unexplored. However, considering that the film already extends over two hours, just enough of his negative qualities are squeezed in. Desi’s gruesome murder scene, not explicitly included in the book, does a fine job at showing the true character of Amy Dunne to the unfamiliar viewer.

The film’s central theme, focusing on how the media can mould the truth, is glaringly obvious; however, the media’s perspective is ever-present in today’s society and deserves to be highlighted on the world’s stage. With her next novel, Dark Places, scheduled to hit theatres in 2015, Gillian Flynn is just starting what can only be a successful journey in film.

And really, after Gone Girl— how much darker can it get?