Director David Fincher has taken Gillian Flynn’s 2012 best-selling novel and delivers a chilling, self-destructive, and ambiguous moral tale that is much better than the book. I hated reading the tortuous tale about two unlikable people. (It’s like “Fatal Attraction” for the 21st century.) The difference between the book and the movie is simple: the film moves faster.
Nick (Ben Affleck) returns home midmorning on his fifth wedding anniversary, and he discovers that his wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), is missing. The living room shows signs of struggle. The police arrive and Nick is the prime suspect.
Through flashbacks, we learn how Nick and Amy met, and how they ended up back in his Missouri hometown after losing their jobs. Eventually, Amy’s parents borrow most of the money in her trust fund. When she was growing up, her parents wrote and published a series of children’s books called Amazing Amy, using their daughter as the protagonist. She secretly resents her parents because of this.
A search—and the accompanying media circus—begins. Nick seeks solace from his twin sister, Margo (Carrie Coon). Amy bought them a bar that Margo runs, mostly by herself, while Nick teaches at a local community college.
Detective Rhonda Boney (Kim Dickens) discovers …. CLICK HERE to continue reading on my column at St. Anthony Messenger
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