After taking in Gone Girl a week or so ago and then doing my usual thing of surfing through reviews afterwards, I couldn’t help but be flabbergasted at how many reviewers and critics were commenting on how good the soundtrack was.

Here’s my take on the state of the situation:

Now, you have to understand that this is difficult for me to write, what with David Fincher being one of my favourite directors and Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor being one of my favourite artists, but I thought the soundtrack for Gone Girl was on a completely different page, almost like it had been written without an understanding of the film’s demeanour.

It seems that Mr Trent Reznor and his fellow partner in crime, Mr Atticus Ross, are now Fincher’s go to guys for scoring his latest movies, and in the past it’s worked a treat (The Social Network and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), but Fincher’s recent films have all had a “digital” edge to them, which suits Reznor and Ross’ style down to a tee. Gone Girl required a bit more thought. Now, I’m all for directors sticking with the staff they know and trust, especially when you go and bag an oscar on your first go at scoring a movie, but Gone Girl would’ve been more suited to the talents of Fincher’s former composer Alexandre Desplat.

While I’m on my soapbox, what was with Gone Girls audio mixing? This film had some of the strangest audio levels I’ve ever heard. Maybe if the background music had spent more of it’s time actually in the background, it might not had been so jarring, but when you’re straining to hear what the characters are saying over the obscurely out of place “plinky blonk plonk blinks” of Reznor and Ross, then I couldn’t help but think “This soundtrack is meant for a different film!”.

Having said all this, I did notice that the video editing in the opening credits was deliberately awkward in it’s timings, with the fading in from black, to some obscure suburban setting, to black again and repeat… with not quite enough time to let the eye settle on the images, but not snappy enough that you don’t care either. I can’t put my finger on what made the editing so obscure but I invite you to watch it again and reassure me that I’m not going mad.

This led me to think, is everything just that little bit “wrong” on purpose, to make the audience feel uncomfortable? So you’re not allowed to trust your own interpretation of what you are watching? Just as you are not really sure if you can trust the main characters in the film? Maybe I’m looking for excuses, but if this theory is correct then that’s a bold move from Fincher.

Gone Girl in Summary

All this aside, I love Fincher and I love Renznor, and I will undoubtedly continue to do so for a long time. Gone Girl was great fun. Ben Affleck was superbly understated and Rosamund Pike embodied her role with expertly, however it was Carrie Coonand’s character who stole the show for me. All in all, not a bad performance from anyone, not even from Neil Patrick Harris 😉 I invite you to take Gone Girl in as soon as possible.

Already seen it? Think I’m talking a load of baloney? Please feel free to leave a comment below.

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