*WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS*
Overall, the movie version of Gone Girl stayed very true to the book. However, there were some obvious differences that made the perception of the characters slightly different than in the book.
One of the biggest things that I noticed was how Nick was portrayed as a lot more trapped and pitiful than he was in the book. This is especially evident when Nick realizes that Amy is framing him, but he doesn't want to explain or reveal it to Boney or Go to try to get them to help him; instead, Boney stays out of the investigation once Amy returns and makes it seem like Nick doesn't have a choice. Nick is also perceived as a little less sleezy and pitiful than in the book; the morning of Amy's "disappearance", Nick actually goes to the beach instead of going to see Andy and reading issues of his old magazine like in the book. The viewer feels a little more sorry for Nick than they do in the book because of this (until his mistress comes in, of course).
The perception of Amy is also altered. In the movie, when she goes to fake the crime scene, she siphons her blood out of a tube rather than cutting herself like she does in the book. This makes her seem a little more calculated and careful about what she does (as well as a little less crazy). She is also a lot more careful with her money when she's hiding in the cabin as well. The only time she is less calculated and more gruesome is when she kills Desi. In the book, she slips him her sleeping pills and then kills him, but in the movie, she slits his throat while he's awake, and she murders him after being with him for days in the book, but the movie cuts the timeline shorter. The movie also doesn't go into the other instances of Amy's crazy episodes, like the two "friends" she had in the past. In the book, Nick uses their stories to validate what he thinks about Amy. In the movie, they aren't mentioned, making it seem like Amy only became crazy after she met Nick.
As for the other characters, Boney and Gilpin play much larger roles; for example, they're the ones that go into the abandoned mall to investigate instead of Nick and Amy's father. Since the book was more inside of Nick's head and the movie can't do that (obviously), there's a lot more focus on the actual investigation, which helps keep it interesting, rather than having pointless comments from Nick that have nothing to do with what's going on; this gives more opportunity for Boney and Gilpin to have key roles.
Two characters that were noticeably missing were Desi's mother and Tanner Bolt's wife. Although neither of them played a key role in the book, they once again change the perception of the two main characters. The absence of Desi's mother adds to the "less crazy" perception of Amy in the movie. The absence of Tanner Bolt's wife doesn't really do much, but it is interesting that in the book it was an interracial marriage (not entirely sure why it was in the book; just some social commentary about differences between the north and the south?).
Overall, I think that the movie had a lot more intensity because of the fact that it focused on the investigation rather than having pointless side stories, trashy comments from Nick or psychotic ones from Amy. Also, Nick gets the last word instead of Amy, which I think he deserves; even though he wasn't a great guy, Amy put him through a lot of crazy crap.
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