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Why Gone Girl Fails In Making Its Point (No Spoilers)

Gone Girl was all the buzz, both as a novel and as a major motion picture. From the start there was a buzz, because good or bad, Ben Affleck creates one. Add David Fincher, Rosemund Pike and a few other familiar faces and you have the making for something good. The one big problem with buzz is buzzwords. Thriller is the first that comes to mind, but in reality, the real thrill of Gone Girl is killed during a scene in the first five minutes. Fincher swears there are no red herrings in the film, but we all know better than that. So if you pay attention, no part is a thriller. The next word is twist. I've seen Oldboy, Crying Game and some others, which to name would destroy their endings, so I'll refrain, but there is not one twist in this movie. Not one.

So where does that leave us? If it's a thriller that doesn't thrill and it's without the twist we've heard so much about, where does that leave us? It leaves us with more plot holes than Mr. Fincher or his cast can fill. But, what it does allow for is some fine acting. Affleck is a great actor. Forget Gigli and his Linklater tie. He's a scene stealer and a professional actor. He's also a director, who obviously takes direction well, which actually plays so well into the movie's plot, it's hard to decipher and at times comes off wooden. Pike is amazing, in that she has an Audrey Hepburn elegance, while playing someone far from it. It works, but hangs by a delicate thread. I mean this as a compliment. The real star of the movie is Tyler Perry. Yes, really. His scenes are hilariously funny, because we forget that he's the ambulance chaser, the gossip follower and the nightly news fake expert, but when he meets Nick, even he is shaken by it.

So we have good acting and nothing happening? So what's the point? What is the point is exactly what I said from minute 42 until the five minutes before it ends. The point is feminism. Not feminism the way simpletons look at it, although women will enjoy this on the most shallow levels much more than men, but in saying that, I mean it to mean, that they will enjoy it even more, when it digs in. Something most of today's alpha males will not be able to handle. To me, this is more erotic than any 50 Shades of Grey. The reason is because it's not all about sex. It's about complete and utter domination. It's about changing a life and then changing your mind. It's about getting what you want, but never having it satisfy you.  It's a delicate game of cat and mouse and in one somewhat shocking scene towards the end, you realize, just like in that early scene, it was never about who was playing what part. To say my next thought would give it all away, in the opening scene. See for yourself, but ask yourself, is this any part of this the feminism that any woman is truly trying to achieve? In the book, the question is answered, but here it's left up to you.

Comments

  1. SPOILERS. Crazy muppet. You did hit on one part -- in the book, basically, Amy's reason for going haywire is because "Ben" (I forget the character name at the moment) stopped playing the game. For her, her entire life is all a game because she's a sociopath playing the part of a socialite who's life is supposed to be perfect. But also in the book- what you don't see in the movie- is inside Ben's head where he's constantly struggling to "act" the right way based on how he's seen people act on television, for instance, how is one supposed to act when someone goes missing or is killed. He is trying not to act suspicious. Especially difficult for him because he secretly hated Amy at that point. So based on both the fact that he usually acts inappropriately to begin with (or I should say he acts normal, aka not perfect, but does it so awkwardly that he looks suspicious to others who also have an idea in their head how people SHOULD act, based on what they've seen on television), made more difficult is the fact that he is not really upset about her being Gone, since he was sick to death of her. Of course, Amy helps that along with all of her planning because she knows him fairly well at this point and knows he won't act properly and so forth. Really, if anything, its a warning to people that certain people act one kind of way to fit into society, to snag a spouse, or whatever it is they desire, but when you're married to that sort of person and live with them, you will eventually see who the real person is. So in the end, in order to force Ben to keep up appearances, she has to get preggers and since Ben knows she's bat sh*t crazy at that point, he stays to take care of the kid... and she knew he would - which is also part of the reason he stayed - he knows how crazy she is and she knows him well too and knows his imperfections. Of course, he needs to clear his conscious somewhat with his plans to write the book. and I ask you, what was the point of Ida (aka the Polish Nebraska?) There is no point, only for us to watch it and then talk about it. I thought Gone Girl was quite comical and entertaining, when I saw it in the theatre, there were lots of laughs - mostly at Rosamund and Tyler Perry. Ben got a few laughs too. All around, it was a good time had by all except for maybe Doogie Howser.

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