And now for the thrilling conclusion of my ranking of David Fincher's films, from worst to best.
5. Fight Club
(1999)
Please don't hate me for not ranking this one higher. While Fight
Club may not be one of David Fincher's most critically acclaimed
films (or at least it wasn't when it first came out), it is perhaps
his most beloved and enjoyed. It was a box office disappointment and
it received mixed reviews from critics who didn't know what to make
of it. But thanks to the emergence of the home DVD market, Fight
Club enjoyed cult status success with rentals through the roof.
And with such a subversive, non-mainstream, movie it seems as if it
couldn't have happened any other way. It is a film that captures the
anti-commercial and cynical spirit of the then-coming-of-age
Generation Xers. And yet it is a self-aware dark satire that features
not only lots of product placements but also many easter eggs and
references to the craft of film making as well. The jumping-off point
at which Fincher's signature style truly blossomed, Fight Club
works so well as a movie that I was surprised to learn that it was
based off a book. Could you imagine how a book version of the
infamous projectionist scene would play out? Add to this some pitch
perfect acting from Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helena
Bonham-Carter and a cool, non-conventional soundtrack by the Dust
Brothers and you've got a fun movie that was meant to be rewatched
again and again. Despite its 90's zeitgeist feel, Fight Club
is a film that's gotten better with age and is arguably Fincher's
greatest contribution to pop culture.
Academy Awards: (1 nomination for Best Sound Editing)
4. Gone Girl
(2014)
Unlike his other thrillers, David Fincher's latest film, Gone
Girl, takes place amongst everyday domestic life... that is if
every day you were caught in a sadistic plot involving your spouse's
disappearance and presumed murder. By this point Fincher became known
as the man who makes pretty-looking, nihilistic movies from books you
read while flying on airplanes. Considering the tone and subject
matter of Gillian Flynn's novel, one can plainly see why the director
was drawn towards its compelling, flawed characters, dark humour
(satirizing modern media), and gripping story that keeps you guessing
right up until the end – even though the big twist comes in at
around the film's halfway mark! The casting in Gone Girl is
superb. Ben Affleck manages to be sympathetic while at the same time
channelling that inner douchebag/narcissist that most guys possess
(you know what I'm talking about). Rosamund Pike is terrifying as the
manipulative Amy Dunn, one of the most memorable female movie
antagonists in recent memory. Neil Patrick Harris, Kim Dickens, even
freakin' Tyler Perry is fantastic in this film. On the other side of
the camera Fincher assembled his usual core production team lending
this film its familiar smooth, creeping camera, cool colour palette,
a rich soundscape, and seamless special effects. For the third
consecutive time, the director collaborated with Trent Reznor and
Atticus Ross to produce an electronic ambient soundtrack that's
restless but with a soothing facade. Gone Girl is Fincher's
highest grossing film to date and while it doesn't exactly feel like
anything new from the man, it's still a great film. Just don't watch
it for date night.
Academy Awards: (1 nomination for Best Actress [Pike])
3. Seven
(AKA Se7en) (1995)
After the train wreck that was Alien 3's production, David
Fincher retreated back to the world of TV commercials for a little
while. But it wasn't long before he was given free reign to unleash
his own vision upon the world with this startlingly original script
previously deemed too edgy by most. Thank goodness Seven came
out the way it did because it is a shocking, haunting spectacle
you'll never forget. This movie is the closest thing to horror that
Fincher has yet done. And yet unlike most modern horror films, Seven
does have a sensible amount of restraint: it knows that audiences can
be scared by things that are just out of sight, that we can be scared
by our own imaginations filling in the gaps. The film also has one of
the most memorable endings in decades. The casting is excellent. The two leads, Brad Pitt as the impatient, headstrong rookie
detective and Morgan Freeman as the jaded, methodical investigator, have great chemistry. This is in spite of occasional
woodenness from certain actors (Pitt, Kevin Spacey). As with a lot of
other Fincher movies, this one has a cool opening credits sequence,
giving the audience a view of the villain preparing his gruesome
crimes. With an atmosphere as oppressive as the constant rain and
filth of the nameless city it takes place in, Seven is a
visceral experience. It's doubtful that anyone but Fincher could have
directed this film this well and it stands out as one of the best
(and most underrated) pictures of the 1990's.
Academy Awards: (1 nomination for Best Editing)
2. The Social
Network (2010)
It may seem weird at first for David Fincher to choose to direct a
real-life college drama about a website; he makes thrillers, not
movies where people talk all the time. Right? Back in 2010 when I
first heard that a movie about Facebook was being made I rolled my
eyes and said, “that's a silly idea.” But when you see The
Social Network you realize that Fincher was the perfect guy to
take charge of this project. It touches on many recurring themes that
can be found throughout the man's filmography: mankind's relationship
to technology, evolving architecture, punk culture, and a
narcissistic/consumed main character. This character, portrayed in a
breakout performance by Jesse Eisenberg, is culpable but still
intriguing and even somewhat relatable. He's a brilliant,
absent-minded, yet somewhat narcissistic young man with a fragile ego
willing to do anything to fully realize his projects. In this
mostly-fictional version of Mark Zuckerberg one can see at least a
small reflection of oneself. The other actors – Justin Timberlake,
Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer, etc – all give top notch
performances. Shot on the new Red One camera and its amazing 4K
visuals, The Social Network is one of Fincher's best looking
films to date. Unlike most of his earlier films, the camerawork is
more staid and less flashy and the colour palette remains impersonal
without resorting to the familiar blue tint. Instead there's more
yellow and green, with high-contrast practical lighting. And how
could I not mention the spooky, unconventional, Oscar-winning
soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross? The duo's first
collaboration with Fincher gives the film an electronic sound that
signals the old order giving way to the new. The Social Network
is so cool and is beyond doubt Fincher's most well-received film. The
film received several Oscar nominations, but because life is unfair
it was passed over for the best picture and best director awards.
Regardless, it's still a masterpiece, a likely candidate for best
film of the decade before the decade's first year was even out.
Academy Awards: Best Original Score, Best Editing, Best Adapted
Screenplay (nominated for 5 more)
1. Zodiac
(2007)
If you've read my list of Top 20 Best Movies I've Ever Seen (back in
December), then this should come as no surprise to you. Now all I
gotta do is say something I haven't said already about this movie.
Zodiac is a film about obsession, and who better to make such a
film than the obsessive perfectionist himself: David Fincher. Not
only that, but the story of the Zodiac also connects to Fincher's
personal history; the man grew up in San Francisco during the the
real life boogeyman's reign of terror. The director has said that one
of his goals with the film was to demystify the legends surrounding
the murders. In doing so, Fincher's film stays as much to the facts
as possible, resulting in one of the most realistic and historically
accurate true crime-mystery films ever. It's the fine details that
makes the movie, but halts the case. Each character's drive to
uncover the killer's identity takes over their lives, and the
inability to catch him leads them to either take up alcoholism,
suffer an existential crisis, or desperately commit even more of
their crumbling lives to the wild-goose chase. It just goes to show
that no matter how much effort you put into doing something, it can
always be called into question by human error and compulsive
desperation. This comes to a head in one of my favourite scenes, in
which Jake Gyllenhaal's Robert Graysmith hears noises above the
ceiling from the basement of a creepy house. It's never revealed
whether there was someone else in the house, Graysmith was
overreacting by thinking so, or if the noises were even real at all
and not just a product of Graysmith's overzealousness. As was the
case in real life, the killer is never caught and yet the film still
manages to feel satisfying. In addition, the film showcases a
paranoid musical score, excellent use of CG effects, highly detailed
set design, and precise camerawork in what was Fincher's first
feature-length film shot on digital camera. As I said before, Zodiac
is a film perfectly suited to David Fincher's artistic sensibilities,
an effortless masterstroke. The fact that it received no Academy
Award nominations is an absolute travesty, but I firmly believe that
Zodiac is one of the 21st century's best movies so
far and is no doubt the gold standard of Fincher's filmography.
Academy Awards: (no nominations)
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