David Fincheris arguably one of the most talked-about filmmakers of the past 20 years, so it’s admittedly kind of weird to list his body of work and realize that he’s only made 12 films, one of which was anAliensequel. Another thing that stands out is the fact that there are no absolute stinkers on the list – on a scale of 1 to 10, I wouldn’t rate any movie he’s ever made lower than a 6. The man does good work, is the point, and we all know the ultimate reward for creating quality art is for someone on the internet to arbitrarily rank that art according to an undefinable metric of personal taste.
That’s right, folks. Being the hero that I am,I decided to rewatch every film in David Fincher’s catalog and rank them from worst (“worst” being an extreme term in this case) to best. It was no small task – nearly all of his films are over two hours long, with a few damn near hitting the three-hour mark, and his work rewards audiences who pay close attention to details over multiple viewings. So while these rankings are by no means definitive, they are 100% correct, because they are mine.
Fincher’s debut feature is also one of his most controversial films.Alien 3went through a handful of permutations and rewrites, including one script famously written by science fiction legendWilliam Gibson. The version that finally made its way into Fincher’s lap threw series heroine Ellen Ripley (SigourneyWeaver) onto a prison colony with a bunch of born-again convicts, killing off her entire supporting cast from the previous film in the first few seconds.Alien 3disappointed many fans of the franchise, but it’s not an ineffective horror movie – the visual style is unmistakably Fincher, with feverish lighting and ominous shadows providing the backdrop for some of the most grisly violence of the series. It takes the haunted house approach ofRidley Scott’s originalAlienand applies it to what is essentially a cathedral, using the idea of infection and the yellowish color palette to create a plague film about a monstrous alien parasite. Unfortunately, it faced several production difficulties, and Fincher didn’t yet possess the reputation to support his notorious perfectionist habit of shooting endless takes. He refuses to participate in any retrospective interviews or commentaries about the film, and seems content to forget he ever directed it.
Returning from LV-426, Ellen Ripley crash-lands on the maximum-security prison Fiorina 161, where she discovers that she has unwittingly brought along an unwelcome visitor.
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11The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttonbegins with a ten-minute story about a magnificently ornate clock that runs backward, which sums up the whole film pretty well. It’s an artfully constructed epic about a man who ages in reverse, andwhile it’s very nice to look at, ultimately the only purpose of watching it is to see time go by.There’s not much of a story inBenjamin Button; it’s a chronicle of a man’s whole life, and all of the relationships he forms along the way. It’s likeForrest Gumpwith a different gimmick, and while it’s not ineffective on an emotional level, I can never quite figure out what the point of it is. The film seemingly makes an interesting philosophical observation about there being little difference between extremely old and extreme young age beyond your physical appearance, butJerry Seinfeldmade the same observation years ago, and he took way less time to do it. Like all of Fincher’s films, it’s extremely watchable, and every frame is meticulous and compelling. But ultimately,Benjamin Buttonis about a woman who falls in love with a weird genetic mutant and gets punished for it her entire life. It’s… weird, man.Taraji P. Hensonis great in it, though.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Tells the story of Benjamin Button, a man who starts aging backwards with consequences.
Rent on Prime
10The Game
Fincher’s 1997 film about a mysterious organization that subjects you to the worst LARPing experience of your entire life is a movie I routinely forget exists, but not because it’s bad. It’s a well-crafted thriller featuringMichael Douglasas a modern-day Scrooge being tossed through the ringer, and nobody does simmering yuppie rage quite like him. However,The Gameis only really effective as a thriller the first time you watch it. I realize that can kind of be said aboutanythriller, but the statement is uniquely true for this movie – once you know the ending, the tension evaporates and the plot of the movie becomes impossible. Fincher has said that the many plot holes and logic leaps are intentional, and that his purpose was to make a meta-thriller about how thrillers themselves are constructed. But I gotta say, without spoiling too much, it’s really difficult forThe Gameto hold your attention on a second viewing.It’s absolutely wild that first time, though.
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Mank, David Fincher’s 11th film is also a movie in whichCharles Dancedoes an American accent and fucking dares anyone to say anything about it. The story follows chaotic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) as he pounds out the screenplay for what will becomeCitizen Kanewhile convalescing after a car accident that left half his body in a cast. The movie jumps around in time, juxtaposing Mank’s furious bouts of writing with the story of him meeting actress Marion Davies (Amanda Seyfried) while working for MGM in the 1930s and striking up a friendship with her and her lover, infamous newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst (Dance). Anyone who took a film class or has a reasonable interest in Hollywood history probably knows thatCitizen Kanewound up being a rather pointed takedown of Hearst, and Fincher uses the dual storylines to explain the forces that drove Mank to resent his onetime friend and craft a scathing dramatic rebuke that ultimately winds up being an indictment of himself as well.
Mankis a surprisingly light film, considering both Fincher and the subject matter, and it’s an extremely fun watch for anyone with even a mild curiosity about old-timey Hollywood. The dialogue is quick and sharp, the performances are pitch-perfect, and Mank himself is an extremely likeable character, even if he is a bumbling drunk most of the time. Fincher’s film avoids the pitfalls of most “movies about movies” by not really being about the making ofCitizen Kaneat all – it’s about the reasons why Mank unconsciously decided to write it in the first place. Fincher works that notion of unconscious drive into the narrative, as the motivations behind the screenplay don’t become completely clear to either Mank or the audience until the final act. For all the grandness of its material,Mankis a remarkably quiet story, about a man coming to terms with his life and his work. It’s an excellent piece of craftmanship (the sound design alone, mimicking the tinny audio tracks of films of the era, is a simple yet remarkable achievement), andit’s a pleasant watch, but it won’t stick with you the way Fincher’s more visceral dramas imbed themselves in your brain.
Watch on Netflix
8The Killer
Michael Fassbender’s unnamed killer in the aptly titledThe Killermight be the closest Fincher has ever come to putting a character like himself into one of his movies. Both are hired guns (this marks Fincher’s second film with Netflix, not to mention several TV projects) who are perfectionists at their craft, taking their time to make sure everything is right before making their move. But it’s also been a while since Fincher has made a film this restrained, this small scale, and this intense, as we follow the aforementioned killer dealing with the fallouts of a mistake made on the job. Fassbender is excellent and intense in the title role, and Fincher is brilliant at getting us inside the killer’s head, as he slowly starts to let emotion take over his usual calm and collected approach.The Killeris impeccably crafted (would we expect anything less from Fincher?), in everything from the way the killer evolves over the course of the week, to the remarkable detail in sound design that will leave the audience cringing.The Killeris a lean, captivating thriller for process nerds that gives us one of Fassbender’s best performances.— Ross Bonaime
The Killer
A professional hitman’s world spirals out of control after a mission fails, thrusting him into a deadly game of cat and mouse. Forced to confront his own vulnerabilities, he navigates a maze of betrayal and danger to stay alive.
7The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Fincher’s adaptation ofThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoois one of the only experiences I’ve had in a theater in which I felt so uncomfortable I looked around at the rest of the audience to make sure I wasn’t in some kind of sting. A mystery thriller based on the international bestseller, the movie is entrenched in brutal sexual violence, and while much of it occurs offscreen, the stuff we’re forced to sit through is more than enough to profoundly ruin the rest of your day. That said,Rooney Maragives a memorable performance as the feral genius Lisbeth Salander, who gets recruited by journalist Mikael Blomkvist (DanielCraig) to help him investigate the cold case disappearance of a wealthy businessman’s grand-niece. Set primarily on a stark snowbound estate in Sweden,the film’s visuals are striking and oppressive, echoing the impenetrable layer of secrets blanketing the Vanger family. However, apart from Fincher’s directorial eye and Mara’s captivating performance, the mystery itself is kind of dull; it becomes obvious who the killer is almost immediately, and the ultimate solution to the girl’s disappearance is deeply unsatisfying and lands with a near-audible thud. Strangely, even though the novel was the first installment of a trilogy, neither Fincher, Mara, or Craig returned to make a sequel, and the rest of the series has yet to be adapted in America.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Journalist Mikael Blomkvist is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing for 40 years by young computer hacker Lisbeth Salander.
6Panic Room
Once you’ve stopped laughing atJaredLeto’s ridiculous hair,PanicRoombecomes an engaging if somewhat clunkily written thriller.Jodie FosterandKristen Stewartplay Meg and Sarah, a mother and daughter forced to barricade themselves in the titular panic room after three criminals stage a home invasion. It’s a unique cat-and-mouse story that turns the genre on its head – the villains know exactly where the protagonists are, and the protagonists can see everything the villains are doing thanks to the safe room’s security cameras. Instead, the tension comes from wondering just how long Meg can keep this up. The film deals with the illusion of control and safety – the panic room immediately becomes a prison rather than a fortress the instant Meg locks herself and her daughter inside. Sure, the bad guys can’t get inside, and she can monitor the entire house, but she has no way of signaling for help and no way to escape her captors. The story relies on a few overused tropes – Sarah has diabetes seemingly because the screenwriters couldn’t think of any other reason why Meg would ever even consider opening the door, and Burnham (ForestWhitaker) is the reluctant thief with a heart of gold who provides more than one deus ex machina moment. But thanks to Fincher’s precise direction and some engaging performances, including a real barn burner of a villain inDwight Yoakam,Panic Roomrises above the weaknesses of its script to be an entertaining thriller.
Panic Room
A mother and daughter’s night in their new home turns into a nightmare when intruders force them to take refuge in a hidden panic room. Inside, they must strategize to stay safe as the situation escalates.
5Fight Club
The movie that became the misinterpreted rallying cry of a generation of douchebags, 1999’sFight Clubis a bizarre comedy dressed up as a psychological thriller. The film’s anti-capitalist soundbytes tend to overshadow its main theme of escaping the comfortable prisons middle-class white people construct for themselves, and ironically made for great t-shirts. But the chaotic nihilism swirling through the movie is just so goddamn entertaining that even its more eye-rollingly grandiose statements of purpose seem punk rock and edgy.BradPitt’s impish performance as ultimate edgelord shit-stirrer Tyler Durden is genuinely hilarious, and he’s so compulsively watchable that I can sit through the scene in which he turns his sculpted abs and impossibly handsome face to the camera to tell us that none of us will ever be models without batting an eye.Fight Clubis David Fincher’s version of slapstick, and while it’s a little too long and its twist can be seen coming a mile away,it has an infectiously ghoulish energy that’s a ton of fun to watch.
Fight Club
An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more.
4Gone Girl
Based onGillian Flynn’s controversial bestseller,Gone Girlis a unique thriller that shifts gears into a completely different kind of beast midway through.Ben Affleckstars as Nick Dunne, a man who may or may not have been involved in the disappearance and possible murder of his wife Amy (RosamundPike). Nick does very little to advocate for his own innocence, and as the mystery deepens, it becomes more and more likely that he was directly involved in a terrible crime. Then we reach the midpoint, andGone Girlabruptly turns into an entirely different kind of suspense thriller, more along the lines ofThe Talented Mr. RipleyandGaslight. Like virtually all of Fincher’s films, it’s an extremely watchable experience, loaded with interesting performances including Pike’s Oscar-nominated role as the missing Amy. It’s a film about perspective and how it can be manipulated, similar to 1997’sThe Gamebut less of a magic trick and more of a character study. It’s also about gender roles and dynamics within a marriage, and how our subconscious acceptance of those definitions can alter that perspective and cloud our judgment without us even realizing it.It’s a fascinating film, and one that I feel gets frequently overlooked when discussing Fincher’s filmography.
With his wife’s disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it’s suspected that he may not be innocent.
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3The Social Network
The Social Networkbegins with one of the most exhausting scenes ofAaronSorkin’s dialogue I have ever encountered, which perfectly sets the stage for the rest of the movie.JessieEisenbergplays Facebook founderMark Zuckerbergas he goblins his way through the creation of the social media giant, swindling and cheating and generally being a massive asshole to absolutely everyone he comes into contact with. This includes his co-founder and business partnerEduardo Saverin(AndrewGarfield), literally the only actual friend he has. For most of its two-hour runtime,The Social Networkis surprisingly light and subdued, and genuinely funny in several scenes;ArmieHammeris hilarious as the stuffily flusteredWinklevosstwins, two guys so buffoonish in their shared superiority complex that they can’t quite reconcile being duped. But Fincher strikes a raw nerve with Zuckerberg’s gradual manipulation of Eduardo, batting it around for most of the movie until finally ripping it out with the gut-busting climax in which Zuckerberg finally hits his partner with one of the biggest screw jobs in history.If you didn’t want to punch Mark Zuckerberg before, you’ll be dying to do soafter watchingThe Social Network.
The Social Network
As Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, he is sued by the twins who claimed he stole their idea and by the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business.
