Gone Girl is a devilishly entertaing film, propelled by a sly script that plays serious but means hilarious, spiralled around two of the finest performances of the year; Ben Affleck subverting his square-jawed charm by focusing on his unusually untrustworthy face and Rosamond Pike attempting and succeeding at the perfect Hitchcock blonde. It is the back and forth of a marriage, filmed like it is a thriller, but with the undertone of "aren't we all having fun here" and by God, it is fun. The opening hour is intercut thrills, unraveling characters and a sense of more to come, that when the first big twist comes you just have to admire the gall of the storytelling.

David Fincher has made a number of good films, and while it is unlikely he will ever match Zodiac, Gone Girl is another to add to the heaving roster; the film is impeccably directed, the pacing is incredibly good for a two and half hour film, it is a clear, clean and subtle piece of work, my only issue with the film was the dull colour palette, minor complaint, but one that Fincher has increasingly steered into. He is kind of boring with colour, as much as he is great with the camera.

Fincher and Gillian Flynn let the narrative silliness percolate, deliberate of course, but gain a surprising resonance by the end by the sheer unblinking seriousness. It is Fincher's least playful direction, in his most playful film.

The best moment of Gone Girl is the very end, the minor note that it finishes on, is absolutely perfection and pushes out of thriller and into one of the best films of its year.

Never end on anything but an anti-climax, it is always lasts the longest.