It is the day of their fifth wedding anniversary, and Nick Dunne returns home from a brief trip out to find his wife not home, and there are signs of a struggle in the lounge. After an initial search finds no sign of his good lady, Amy, the Police are called in. The immediate area is searched but no clues are uncovered. A television appeal is made, involving Nick, and Amy's parents, desperate to all be reunited.
Intermingled with this tale is also the story of their marriage leading upto the events of when Amy goes missing, We see their initial meeting, and subsequent occurances, from job losses to moving house, and dealing with family loss.
We also find out that Amy has been the victim of harrassment on more than once occasion. Could this have something to do with her disappearance? Eventually the finger of suspicion starts to the point to home, and that husband Nick has possibly murdered his beautiful wife.
More suspicion falls on Nick as further evidence incriminates him in the crime, even though there is no body, so technically the Police cannot charge him with murder, unless there is a confession.
His Sister stays ever loyal, constantly at his side. The media however is out for blood, especially one female Newscaster who sees it as her personal mission to destroy Nick and all he stands for. He is another example of a Man belittling, undermining, and ultimately killing his good lady.
The question as to whether Nick did or not kill his wife is answered about half way through the film, and this did initially surprise me. But there is a good reason why. To go into more detail would be to give away what happens, and of course I would never do that.
On the plus side there is as ever great Direction from Fincher, who slowly shows us the life of this couple, like peeling an onion, and revealing the many layers underneath. The film is beautifully shot, as one would expect, and comes with a nice subtle score from Fincher regulars Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
Performances across the board are excellent, Affleck is on good form as husband murder suspect Nick, but it is ultimately Rosamund Pike who really shines, giving a career best performance as Amy. There is a lot more to her character we discover as the film progresses, and it really gives her the opportunity to flex her acting muscle. Nice support too from Tyler Perry and especially Neil Patrick Harris as a former lover of Amy.
The way the media are portrayed in this film is fascinating, and very much mirrors real life. They clearly want their pound of flesh when they have a possible murderer, happy to tarnish his name, make accusastions against him and his family. And when they want to have him as a prime time guest interviewee, they are all over him like a rash. Anything to increase ratings, no matter what the cost, no matter whether guilty or not.
The truth being revealed makes for compelling viewing, however, I still feel that the film is slightly too long, and could have had about 20 minutes shaved off. Also, I am still undecided how I feel about the ending, and whether with what happened, I feel somehow cheated or that it should not have ended the way it did.
It is still a great film, but not the masterpiece I was expecting. It fell just a tad short, say of the superior "Prisoners" from last year.
Really good, but fell short at the end.............8 out of 10
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