Okay so first of all, I have to say that I pretty much idolize David Fincher by now. Never have I ever seen such impeccable consistency in terms of film quality in another director, and I do believe he's the best working director in Holywood at the moment. That being said, I'm obviously a bit biased but even so, this film absolutely blew me away.
This casual review contains major spoilers so if you haven't seen the movie, get the fuck out of here immediately. So what do I want from this type of movie? I want mystery. I want suspense. I want characters with layers upon layers of depth and I want to be conflicted, surprised, awestruck. This film managed to do all of these and not only that, it managed to also make me laugh quite a lot to my surpise. The whole premise of the film is made more clear in the halfway point where the whole story makes an 180 twist in a span of a few minutes in jaw-droppingly fashion, making you question your own thought process and as we find out, the movie is not only a great mystery but also a critique to modern social media.
Any movie that makes me contemplate on my initial thoughts and ultimately completely change my views is an absolutely brilliant one, and any actress that can become from the sweetest, most thoughtful and caring, perfect person on screen to one of the most psychotic, twisted, sociopathic villains I've ever seen is oscar-worthy in my book, so there you go Rosamund Pike. Not to take away from Ben Affleck's amazing performance who always manages to shut everyone up after being constantly critiqued for his acting skills due to a few bad decisions. I think he's over "Gigli" by now guys, it's time to move on as well. After this and Argo, I honestly can't see him fucking Bruce Wayne up and I can't wait to see him in that role. Tyler Perry also knocked it out of the park and the real revelation for me, aside Rosamund Pike, was the actress who played Ben Affleck's sister in the film, Carrie Coon. Spectacular performance and honestly, oscar-worthy as well. Now about Neil Patrick Harris; of course HIMYM fans such as myself are going to feel a bit weird about seeing their beloved Barney being in a serious role (even though he was, in fact suited up for most of his screentime) but as soon as I saw his character developed, all of my initial thoughts went out of the window because to be frank, NPH is one creepy motherfucker. David Fincher did a great job hinting this without ever showing us straight forward and I personally believed he could snap at any moment and go on a killing spree.
Overall I expect this film to be nominated in a whole lot of categories for this year's academy awards and I wouldn't be surprised if it took a lot of them home. Best Direction, Best Adaptation, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Leading Actress, Best Supporting Actress would be reasonable nominations to name a few and of course, Best Score. Now let me talk about that last thing a little bit, because as an avid music fan I always keep an ear for the soundtrack in a movie, as it helps you immerse into it and instictively guides your thoughts with its delicate sounds;exactly what Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross managed once again, after their other magnificent collaboration in Fincher's "The social network".
The film is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking, has an amazing cast, superb direction and an eerily beautiful soundtrack and it is as much of a crime mystery as it is a character study of human relationships and a blatant critique of the media in its very core. Bumped up above Fincher's Zodiac and just one step below "Fight Club" it is my second favorite Fincher film and on of the best I've seen in the past few years, if not ever. Go watch it.
After leaving the theatre, one of my friends jokingly said to me "You know the reason we have no such stories as this in real life? It's because there are no such brilliant people around to be part of them." Even though it might actually be true, what if it's not? You will never know who the greatest spy ever was because he will never reveal his identity, and you will never know about
"the perfect crime" because if it really is "the perfect crime", you will never find out about it.
P.S.: Unless you enjoy sleeping with one eye open, DO NOT WATCH THIS WITH A DATE. "Crazy bitch" stories tend to not be first date material and this one will make you paranoid, mark my words.
This casual review contains major spoilers so if you haven't seen the movie, get the fuck out of here immediately. So what do I want from this type of movie? I want mystery. I want suspense. I want characters with layers upon layers of depth and I want to be conflicted, surprised, awestruck. This film managed to do all of these and not only that, it managed to also make me laugh quite a lot to my surpise. The whole premise of the film is made more clear in the halfway point where the whole story makes an 180 twist in a span of a few minutes in jaw-droppingly fashion, making you question your own thought process and as we find out, the movie is not only a great mystery but also a critique to modern social media.
Any movie that makes me contemplate on my initial thoughts and ultimately completely change my views is an absolutely brilliant one, and any actress that can become from the sweetest, most thoughtful and caring, perfect person on screen to one of the most psychotic, twisted, sociopathic villains I've ever seen is oscar-worthy in my book, so there you go Rosamund Pike. Not to take away from Ben Affleck's amazing performance who always manages to shut everyone up after being constantly critiqued for his acting skills due to a few bad decisions. I think he's over "Gigli" by now guys, it's time to move on as well. After this and Argo, I honestly can't see him fucking Bruce Wayne up and I can't wait to see him in that role. Tyler Perry also knocked it out of the park and the real revelation for me, aside Rosamund Pike, was the actress who played Ben Affleck's sister in the film, Carrie Coon. Spectacular performance and honestly, oscar-worthy as well. Now about Neil Patrick Harris; of course HIMYM fans such as myself are going to feel a bit weird about seeing their beloved Barney being in a serious role (even though he was, in fact suited up for most of his screentime) but as soon as I saw his character developed, all of my initial thoughts went out of the window because to be frank, NPH is one creepy motherfucker. David Fincher did a great job hinting this without ever showing us straight forward and I personally believed he could snap at any moment and go on a killing spree.
Overall I expect this film to be nominated in a whole lot of categories for this year's academy awards and I wouldn't be surprised if it took a lot of them home. Best Direction, Best Adaptation, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Leading Actress, Best Supporting Actress would be reasonable nominations to name a few and of course, Best Score. Now let me talk about that last thing a little bit, because as an avid music fan I always keep an ear for the soundtrack in a movie, as it helps you immerse into it and instictively guides your thoughts with its delicate sounds;exactly what Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross managed once again, after their other magnificent collaboration in Fincher's "The social network".
The film is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking, has an amazing cast, superb direction and an eerily beautiful soundtrack and it is as much of a crime mystery as it is a character study of human relationships and a blatant critique of the media in its very core. Bumped up above Fincher's Zodiac and just one step below "Fight Club" it is my second favorite Fincher film and on of the best I've seen in the past few years, if not ever. Go watch it.
After leaving the theatre, one of my friends jokingly said to me "You know the reason we have no such stories as this in real life? It's because there are no such brilliant people around to be part of them." Even though it might actually be true, what if it's not? You will never know who the greatest spy ever was because he will never reveal his identity, and you will never know about
"the perfect crime" because if it really is "the perfect crime", you will never find out about it.
P.S.: Unless you enjoy sleeping with one eye open, DO NOT WATCH THIS WITH A DATE. "Crazy bitch" stories tend to not be first date material and this one will make you paranoid, mark my words.
