Gone Girl plot holes - SPOILERS
Discussion
As per title, this contains spoilers.
This is a bit of a rant tbh but this film is getting huge hype and in my view it really doesn't deserve it.
Wife and I went to see it yesterday, and I was not impressed. Yes, it was well made, and the two leads were good, but for me the whole thing was ruined by huge plot holes - not just one plot hole, but several.
I know films aren't supposed to be realistic, but a thriller has to be believable, this simply wasn't in my view. My plot holes are:
1) she is assaulted in her own home with a blunt weapon and loses a lot of blood but nobody checks her for evidence of a wound when she reappears.
2) the lakehouse is covered with cameras but apparently the only footage they got was of her at the window and him coming and going? Really, no footage of them arriving happily together?
3) despite her having issues with previous boyfriends the police don't check up on them, talk to them, put them on watch?
4) the police don't think to fingerprint anything in the woodshed despite the husband saying he had nothing to do with it being there?
5) the Judy handle isn't marked despite being in a fire. Wouldn't he have dumped it before going to the cops? Same thing goes for the diary. Almost like he was trying to frame himself.
6) He doesn't love her, has had an affair, knows she is a complete nutjob but he still goes along with her at the end instead of thinking "f
k this, I'll confess to finding clue 2 and 3 and tell them what she told me about Barney."
I'm sure there are others. Feel free to add them if you can think of any.
This is a bit of a rant tbh but this film is getting huge hype and in my view it really doesn't deserve it.
Wife and I went to see it yesterday, and I was not impressed. Yes, it was well made, and the two leads were good, but for me the whole thing was ruined by huge plot holes - not just one plot hole, but several.
I know films aren't supposed to be realistic, but a thriller has to be believable, this simply wasn't in my view. My plot holes are:
1) she is assaulted in her own home with a blunt weapon and loses a lot of blood but nobody checks her for evidence of a wound when she reappears.
2) the lakehouse is covered with cameras but apparently the only footage they got was of her at the window and him coming and going? Really, no footage of them arriving happily together?
3) despite her having issues with previous boyfriends the police don't check up on them, talk to them, put them on watch?
4) the police don't think to fingerprint anything in the woodshed despite the husband saying he had nothing to do with it being there?
5) the Judy handle isn't marked despite being in a fire. Wouldn't he have dumped it before going to the cops? Same thing goes for the diary. Almost like he was trying to frame himself.
6) He doesn't love her, has had an affair, knows she is a complete nutjob but he still goes along with her at the end instead of thinking "f
k this, I'll confess to finding clue 2 and 3 and tell them what she told me about Barney."I'm sure there are others. Feel free to add them if you can think of any.
Jader1973 said:
1) she is assaulted in her own home with a blunt weapon and loses a lot of blood but nobody checks her for evidence of a wound when she reappears.
The police woman who has been involved all along is keen to investigate, the newly brought in FBI just want to close the case rather than risk the police being made to look any more incompetent. Jader1973 said:
2) the lakehouse is covered with cameras but apparently the only footage they got was of her at the window and him coming and going? Really, no footage of them arriving happily together?
The security system that she had access to you mean? The one she was shown carefully scoping out the cameras for? Perfectly feasible that the footage is only kept for a certain length of time or that she deleted some of it.Jader1973 said:
3) despite her having issues with previous boyfriends the police don't check up on them, talk to them, put them on watch?
Talking to the previous boyfriends wouldn't impact the plot. Putting them on watch would seem overkill unless there was reason to suspect they were involved.Jader1973 said:
4) the police don't think to fingerprint anything in the woodshed despite the husband saying he had nothing to do with it being there?
Why would they? They are convinced he's guilty by this point and a lack of his finger prints wouldn't prove anything (you can't prove a negative).Jader1973 said:
5) the Judy handle isn't marked despite being in a fire. Wouldn't he have dumped it before going to the cops? Same thing goes for the diary. Almost like he was trying to frame himself.
Diary was partially burnt but he was interrupted by the alarm going off and the police arriving. Can't remember the precise details regarding how the judy handle was supposed to have been found. I think it was just hidden in the fireplace rather than it being lit.Jader1973 said:
6) He doesn't love her, has had an affair, knows she is a complete nutjob but he still goes along with her at the end instead of thinking "fk this, I'll confess to finding clue 2 and 3 and tell them what she told me about Barney."
He's trapped. She has him (quite literally) by the goolies. He keeps waiting for an opportunity but they keep being shut off before he can take advantage.k this, I'll confess to finding clue 2 and 3 and tell them what she told me about Barney."You seem to be being rather picky to be honest. We are talking about the actions of imperfect people under extreme stress. They don't always make the 'best' choice in a given situation - everyone has their own motives and fears.
A lot of your gripes about the film are adequately addressed in the book. She takes time to get his fingerprints all over stuff while he's asleep (drugged by her) , the ex boyfriends are dismissed as ex cons and weirdos, the handle wasn't in a fire - it was discovered in a sweep of the riversides. However your final point about the extremely weak and bizarre ending stands
Edited by krunchkin on Monday 20th October 12:57
Mr Will said:
Jader1973 said:
1) she is assaulted in her own home with a blunt weapon and loses a lot of blood but nobody checks her for evidence of a wound when she reappears.
The police woman who has been involved all along is keen to investigate, the newly brought in FBI just want to close the case rather than risk the police being made to look any more incompetent. Mr Will said:
Jader1973 said:
2) the lakehouse is covered with cameras but apparently the only footage they got was of her at the window and him coming and going? Really, no footage of them arriving happily together?
The security system that she had access to you mean? The one she was shown carefully scoping out the cameras for? Perfectly feasible that the footage is only kept for a certain length of time or that she deleted some of it.Police: What happened to the rest of the footage?
Her: Barney deleted it and only left in the dodgy bits.
Really??
Mr Will said:
Jader1973 said:
3) despite her having issues with previous boyfriends the police don't check up on them, talk to them, put them on watch?
Talking to the previous boyfriends wouldn't impact the plot. Putting them on watch would seem overkill unless there was reason to suspect they were involved.Mr Will said:
Jader1973 said:
4) the police don't think to fingerprint anything in the woodshed despite the husband saying he had nothing to do with it being there?
Why would they? They are convinced he's guilty by this point and a lack of his finger prints wouldn't prove anything (you can't prove a negative).Mr Will said:
Jader1973 said:
5) the Judy handle isn't marked despite being in a fire. Wouldn't he have dumped it before going to the cops? Same thing goes for the diary. Almost like he was trying to frame himself.
Diary was partially burnt but he was interrupted by the alarm going off and the police arriving. Can't remember the precise details regarding how the judy handle was supposed to have been found. I think it was just hidden in the fireplace rather than it being lit.I’m sure as she put the handle in the fireplace the voiceover said “A fire in July” and she lit it.
Mr Will said:
Jader1973 said:
6) He doesn't love her, has had an affair, knows she is a complete nutjob but he still goes along with her at the end instead of thinking "fk this, I'll confess to finding clue 2 and 3 and tell them what she told me about Barney."
He's trapped. She has him (quite literally) by the goolies. He keeps waiting for an opportunity but they keep being shut off before he can take advantage.k this, I'll confess to finding clue 2 and 3 and tell them what she told me about Barney."I'm not even sure how she had him by the goolies - everything he'd been accused of had been resolved. He'd still have had a book deal - an even better book deal probably. Just weird tbh.
Mr Will said:
You seem to be being rather picky to be honest. We are talking about the actions of imperfect people under extreme stress. They don't always make the 'best' choice in a given situation - everyone has their own motives and fears.
Yes, but I’m also talking about a film that it meant to demonstrate how those actions play out and the resulting consequences - which only come about due to huge plot holes. I expect a thriller to have some basis in reality - I just didn't believe this film.krunchkin said:
A lot of your gripes about the film are adequately addressed in the book. She takes time to get his fingerprints all over stuff while he's asleep (drugged by her) , the ex boyfriends are dismissed as ex cons and weirdos, the handle wasn't in a fire - it was discovered in a sweep of the riversides. However your final point about the extremely weak and bizarre ending stands
That is interesting, thanks. If they’d included those details then it would have made more sense (and been 4 hours long Edited by krunchkin on Monday 20th October 12:57
Not sure it makes me feel better though given one of the accolades the film is getting is how good an adaptation of the book it is!
Oh, and his car was on NY plates throughout despite them having not lived there for 18 months
In the book we are told that Nick really wanted children and really this was the main reason for him staying and creating the slightly odd and anti-climatic ending.
Also in the book she had poisoned herself with ant-freeze and kept the vomit as a possible case against him if he tried to leave.
Also in the book she had poisoned herself with ant-freeze and kept the vomit as a possible case against him if he tried to leave.
Jader1973 said:
But he left with the cops and they went back later. If he knew he'd been interrupted why not go back again and get the diary? Plus, he didn't have time to get in, go to the basement, partially burn the diary, get back up, and ring the alarm company. He spent the entire time he was there either trying the code or on the phone. The alarm went off the instant he walked in.
He didn't know the diary was there, she planted it and made sure the alarm went off so that the police would know that nick was in the house. 
Legend83 said:
In the book we are told that Nick really wanted children and really this was the main reason for him staying and creating the slightly odd and anti-climatic ending.
Also in the book she had poisoned herself with ant-freeze and kept the vomit as a possible case against him if he tried to leave.
Did know it was a book, for some reason I thought Affleck had written it. Also in the book she had poisoned herself with ant-freeze and kept the vomit as a possible case against him if he tried to leave.
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