Oh my gods this movie.

When I heard that this book was going to be adapted into a movie, I was terrified. I did not want one of my favourite thrillers to be ruined by a terrible movie adaptation. Then I heard David Fincher was directing and Gillian Flynn, the writer herself was helping translate it to the screen, I was excited.

Excited, but cautiously excited.

The movie open to Nick looking at Amy’s skull, much like the book. This scene is crucial in setting the tone for the rest of the movie. We then see Nick talking to his sister, Margo and we return to his house to find the door open and a missing Amy. It was the day of their 5th anniversary. We are also shown, through flashbacks, the story of how Amy and Nick met and how they got married.

When the police arrive at the scene, they start suspecting Nick, but they don’t go all out against him. Nick tries to follow the clues that Amy left for him as a treasure hunt for their anniversary. Nick also carries out his own investigation to try and find out who has taken his wife.

As the movie progresses, we are shown how Nick changes as time goes on in Amy’s flashbacks and these flashbacks don’t paint a very good picture of Nick. It seems as though someone is framing him and he believes it is his wife. He hires Tanner Bolt, a lawyer to help defend him.

In the second half of the movie, we see Amy planning her escape how she intends to frame her husband for her disappearance and her apparent death. She has fled and has everything planned to the T. But soon, things start going awry. She turns to her ex-boyfriend Desi Collins.

Collins houses her and keeps her captive. She feels the need to escape, makes another plan to take care of her situation. She returns to her husband all bloody and cries rape. But Nic doesn’t trust her and he tells her. She manipulates him into staying with her and this is the twisted version of a happy ending that Gillan Flynn gives us.

Now, what I loved about this movie is how close an adaptation to the book it is. And it is a difficult book to adapt! The thing about the book is that  it sets the tone for the character form the very beginning and it lays suspicion on Nick. The movie, does a brilliant job in doing the same. David Fincher manages to direct it beautifully and the music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross compliments the scenes perfectly.

Ben Affleck’s acting is surprisingly very very good. NPH’s darkly comic take on Desi is also perfect; no one else could play it better. But the person who stole the show was Rosamund Pike. Her portrayal of Amy is brilliant and perfect. She was cold, and terrifying and scary and all kinds of deranged. Rosamund Pike scares me; I will have nightmares about her.