Based on the novel of the same name by Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl is a stunningly graphic tale of how a marriage can break down to frighteningly large proportions.

The premise is simple; middle-aged, suburban couple are hit by a severe twist of fate when Amy, wife of Nick Dunne, goes missing on the morning of their anniversary and Nick is suspected to have played a part in her disappearance.

We have here a film with a pace that could be construed as 'slow', but is in fact, gradually building anticipation to it's highest point, right there for us, the audience to lose our heads.

For those who have read the book you know the way in which this story is told. Nick provides a background,a narrative highlighting aspects of the story whereas Amy deals with the expositional portion of the film through her diary.

Affleck plays Nick Dunne, who starts us off with the same chilling opening monologue as the book, foreshadowing what's to follow; a true mind-effer that will leave you speechless and questioning your marriage and sanity.

As the story unfolds in an alternating narrative fashion - one side from the point of view of Nick, and the other, Amy - we see how the couple's relationship changes dramatically within a matter of (on screen) minutes.

Rosamund Pike provides a compelling, yet questionable performance, giving us an absolutely chilling portrayal of what a desperate woman will do in desperate situations.

Similarly, Affleck gives us a performance which, doesn't really excel far past his current capability, it still shows us that he is an actor who has a very broad range and is able to emote well enough to convince the audience.

What we have here is a film which can't really compare with it's book counterpart, it holds it's own as a standalone film and as an excellent companion to the book.

7.5/10