Directed and written by: Gilles Paquet-Brenner
Based on a novel by: Gillian Flynn
When Libby Day was eight years old, her family was murdered, and she testified against her own brother. Almost thirty years later and desperate for money, Libby reluctantly revisits the old crime to see if his brother truly was behind the murders.
I've loved Gone Girl since I saw it for the first time, and I've read it once and listened to it once. I finished the audiobook last night and the whole story is simply haunting. It's haunting when read, seen or heard. Gillian Flynn is such an amazing author, so when I was looking through movies to rent, Dark Places caught my eye. Audible has been recommending it to me, but since it would be expensive to get it without ever reading it, I thought I'd rent it - and if I liked it, maybe I would get it on Audible one day.
Of course I'd hate to compare Dark Places to Gone Girl all through this review, but Gone Girl had a big effect on me. So obviously the first thing I notice is the difference between Amy and Libby. Amy is clever and ambitious, while Libby doesn't seem to care about shit. They both had money though, money they didn't exactly earn themselves. Amy got her money from her parents, and Libby got her money from generous donors. Both lose their money, but the biggest difference seems to be that Amy is active while Libby is passive turning active. Still, Libby is an interesting character. She has gone through a lot and has clearly put up some walls, and the movie keeps us at a certain distance from her. I feel like we could get to know her a lot better in the novel, which is why I'm really interested in reading that.
To be honest the distance from the main character of Dark Places and Gone Girl shows the key difference between the film adaptations. Gone Girl's screenplay was written by Gillian Flynn herself, and in the movie we get to know Amy. We don't get to know as much as in the novel, but we know enough, while with Libby the audience doesn't know enough. Maybe the screenwriter didn't know "his" character as well as he would need to. But of course this is kind of in theory, since I haven't read the novel, but judging by Flynn's style in Gone Girl, I doubt she'd leave the main character at a weird distance.
What's great about the story is how you can guess what happened. You know who could've been behind it, and you can form your own theories. I formed mine very early, but knowing Flynn I felt like it's not going to be what I guessed. Well, that was disappointing, because I guessed it right. Again, I feel like in the novel it might have been a bit harder to find it out before it was said, but in a movie those few clues can't be drown in as many details as would be necessary. That's what let me kind of disappointed, that and the fact that the feeling after you see or read Gone Girl is... haunting. That's what haunting about that story. But with Dark Places, the end just is. The feeling is completely different. Of course I'm not expecting every story of Flynn's feeling the same, but Dark Places doesn't feel as dark as Gone Girl.
The atmosphere - cinematography and music - of Dark Place are very typical for a thriller, and when looking at those Dark Places just drowns into all the other thrillers.
But while Dark Places isn't as good as I hoped it to be, it's still a decent thrilling. It's what it needs to be - it's an intriguing mystery. It just isn't a thriller which would haunt you, it's not that original. It won't stay with you for too long, and you probably won't think about watching it again. You could never watch it and you wouldn't miss anything. It's good for a one watch, it's thrilling enough for that, but once you've seen it all and you know everything, what would be the point to see it again, when it doesn't offer something really extraordinary like its counterpart?
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
7 / 10
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