There are a few directors in the modern era that have a certain expectation put to them when they release a film, Christopher Nolan is one example, the other; David Fincher. Non film purists may not have heard of his name, but they surely will have heard of his movies; Seven, Fight Club and the Social Network are a few dot points on a showreel that put Fincher in the highest echelon of the Hollywood Director’s category. So going into ‘Gone Girl’ the pressure was on.

Starring Ben Affleck as Nick Dunne, a failed writer who on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary to Amy – played by Rosamund Pike, arrives home from the bar he owns to find his wife is missing, in suspicious circumstances. What unfolds for the next two and half hours is a twisted, thrilling piece of writing and cinema that starts off a bit clunky but soon grips to you and holds on until the very last frame. It is properly suspenseful, a credit to the performances of the actors, the crew and the overall production and the careful construction of the narrative as Dunn is implicated for his wife’s disappearance and must clear his name, with the audience left also guessing whether he did or did not kill his wife.

There is a noticeable difference with directors who carefully choose their framing and do it for a reason, to shock, to suspend in disbelief, to use sound as an emotive tool, and it formulates into a objectively good movie that thematically tells a great story and makes a statement. In the case of Gone Girl it is a snapshot of modern American life, the recession, a mundane couple dealing with marriage and the natural progression of a relationship, the relentless nature of modern society and media. Best of all; it’s properly unpredictable. Unless you’ve read the book.

Technically great too, shot selection is subtle and beautiful, the pacing feels just right and the script is fantastic, probably because the writer of the novel Gillian Flynn also did the screenplay for the film. There are turns and twists that for someone who watches a lot of movies (i.e. me) leaving Palace Cinema with that loud happy exhale, satisfied. A breath of fresh air, the movie industry is still in safe hands with people like David Fincher.

Gone Girl is now showing at Palace Electric Cinema, NewActon.