David Fincher Films Ranked
David Fincher is one of my favorite directors working today. I love his aesthetics, how he uses lighting, color grade, and his music choices. And to celebrate the premiere of his are new film MANK on Netflix, I decided to rank his films from worst to best.
But keep in mind that the “Fincher-bar" is set really high. Some of Fincher's worst movies are still pretty good.
So come with me on this journey through the work of one of the best filmmakers in the world.
11- ALIEN 3 (1992)
ALIEN 3 was definitely not a good debut for David Fincher in Hollywood. He doesn’t even count this is as his first film. And he has said in multiple interviews that he hates the movie. He was a newcomer and took a lot of heat for this hot mess of a movie at the time.
The first ALIEN is one of the most terrifying movies ever made and its sequel, ALIENS is a worthy successor. But it was basically an 80s action movie. I think Fincher wanted to create a movie mixing both genres, Horror, and Action. But he failed miserably.
However, It is hard to blame Fincher for this one though. I blame the studio. The production was a mess and the film went through multiple writers and directors before settling with Fincher. Also, the choice of Killing of Hicks and Newt didn’t work well with the fans of the franchise.
10 - THE GAME (1997)
I know this movie gets a lot of love but I think is one the weakest on Fincher’s filmography.
THE GAME is tense and beautifully shot. An interesting thriller and a very strange but enjoyable ride. I really like that the twist is that there is no twist. It was all just a very elaborated and probably a very expensive game.
My problem with the movie is that in the last 10 minutes, it completely falls apart. The ending is absolutely ridiculous. I mean, it is very convenient that Michael Douglas’ character jumped from that building exactly where he was supposed to. Come on! I read somewhere that Fincher has the same opinion about that ending nowadays.
TLDR, fun film with a terrible ending.
09 - THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (2008)
Directing this film was an Interesting choice by Fincher. He went from directing the Crime/Thriller ZODIAC in 2007 to this epic and weird (in a good way) movie in 2008. THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON storyline was written by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord and is loosely based on the 1922 short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
The film is definitely a departure for David Fincher. Very different from his predecessors. But It was great to see him stepping out of his comfort zone. He created these beautiful, authentic shots. With some great CGI, that still holds up and added a beautiful score. The performances from Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett were amazing too.
My problems with this film were the pacing and the writing, which could be tighter. It's also way too long, almost 3 hours long. At the end of this marathon, I was exhausted and feeling like I had just binge-watched a whole season of a show on Netflix.
08 - PANIC ROOM (2002)
PANIC ROOM was Fincher's fifth feature film, following FIGHT CLUB (1999). The attention to detail in this movie is amazing. But what else we could expect from Fincher? He created very tense scenes using only one location. A four-story brownstone in New York City's Upper West Side. The house and its panic room were built on a Studio lot. And the filmmaker used computer-generated imagery to create the illusion of the film camera moving through the house's rooms.
PANIC ROOM feels a lot like a Hitchcock movie. And it has everything that makes Fincher's films great. Quality action, great atmosphere, beautiful lighting, and cinematography. Jodie Foster and Kristen Steward have great chemistry together and Forrest Whitaker is great, as always. Also, I love the story that Fincher was the one who braided Jared Leto’s hair.
Fincher's direction and the set do make things interesting but again, the screenplay did not blow me away. I think David Koepp could have done a better job writing the movie. Also, that Hollywood ending wasn’t very Fincher-esque.
07 - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
This film is an American version unrelated to the Swedish film adaptation released in 2009. Both the American and the Swedish versions were based on Stieg Larsson's novel of the same name.
The Swedish version was originally a tv miniseries that was eventually cut into 3 movies. The production values weren’t so good but they are interesting movies. The American version clearly has a bigger budget and arguably a better cast. Although I prefer Noomi Rapace’s version of Lisbeth to Rooney Mara’s. But Daniel Craig played a better Mikael Blomkvist in my opinion.
I think Fincher was heavily influenced by the Swedish film. But he added a lot of his masterful skills here. The American film is more polished and has a better cinematic experience. But both versions are super gritty, violent, and disturbing. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross also deliver another great score. This isn't Fincher's best, not by a long shot, but it is still a great film.
The only thing I disliked about this film is the American actors speaking with foreign accents. They were supposed to sound like Swedish people speaking English but they ended up sounding like Russians speaking English. It is absolutely awful and it really bothers me.
06 - FIGHT CLUB (1999)
Few directors alive are capable of making a movie as good as the book it’s based on. But according to the author of FIGHT CLUB, Chuck Palahniuk, this film is better than his book.
I know that a lot of bros saw this film as a celebration of machismo and some very stupid ones even started their own fight clubs. But this film is actually a critique of toxic masculinity. Tyler Durden is not a role model. He's a juvenile ideal of rebellion that leads to nothing but senseless violence, terrorism, and presumably a stupid cult.
Many critics pointed out that Fincher failed in his critique of toxic masculinity and see the movie as an endorsement of violence and nihilism. But I disagree with that. I think that FIGHT CLUB is one of the most thought-provoking films of the 90s.
The film was directed with a lot of style, had great performances all around, and an outstanding score by the Dust Brothers and it was very entertaining overall.
05 - MANK (2020)
MANK is a passion project for David Fincher. The script was written by his father Jack who passed away in 2003. The film is about screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz and his development of the script for the 1941 classic CITIZEN KANE.
I love films about the movie industry. And this one is a brilliant homage to the 1930's Hollywood style. The film was shot in black and white and looks quite beautiful. I loved how Fincher used shadows to create texture and depth. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross collaborated with Fincher again. And this time they’re using only instruments from that period.
MANK is also filled with top-notch performances, Amanda Seyfried has to get at least an Oscar nomination and should be the front runner to win. Gary Oldman, Charles Dance, and Arliss Howard also deliver amazing performances and should be getting some awards recognition as well.
MANK is very different from all the other Fincher films and I know for sure that a lot of people will be put off by the idea of watching a black and white film or just dismissed it as boring. But I’m super happy with the results and very grateful for getting a new Fincher film after 6 years of waiting. And if you’re a cinephile like me, you owe it to yourself to see this.
04 - GONE GIRL (2014)
David Fincher gives a true master class in directing with this psychological thriller based on Gillian Flynn's 2012 novel of the same title.
First of all, it was great that the author of the book was also the screenwriter of the film. She did a great job adapting the book. And the twist(s) were shockingly well done.
Fincher created a gorgeous look and feel for this film. With fantastic camera work, and another stunning score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Gone Girl is technically magnificent. A well-paced, tense mystery thriller with seamless editing. It is also gruesome and disturbing, but Fincher made it look very elegant.
The performances are all amazing. Ben Affleck played the character perfectly. He has the smug smile that the role needed. Tyler Perry was a pleasant surprise, and Carrie Coon is always great in everything she does. But the real MVP of this awesome cast is without a doubt Rosamund Pike. She absolutely nailed it as Amy Dunne.
GONE GIRL is a must-watch for Fincher lovers.
03 - SE7EN (1995)
SE7EN is one of the darkest films I have ever seen. It has such a bleak storyline. And I love the mood with the never-ending rain and a city that looked and felt dirty, violent, polluted, and often depressing.
The film tells the story of David Mills (Brad Pitt), a detective who partners with the retiring William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) to track down a serial killer who is obsessed with the seven deadly sins. The plot is simple, yet incredibly well-crafted.
Fincher's films normally have a high level of rewatchability but SE7EN is one of those films that I have to watch at least once a year. Visually the film is perfect. The dark look was achieved through a chemical process called bleach bypass, which increased the film stock's overall tonal quality. Also, the gritty opening credits with a remix of ‘Closer’ by NIN is probably one of the best ever made.
The performances are excellent. Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman are both outstanding in the lead roles. They have great chemistry together. And Kevin Spacey was perfectly cast as John Doe.
And there’s the ending, what an ending! That was a pretty bold move for a major movie at the time. I remember when I first watched it in a movie theatre. The film ended and my fifteen-year self just sat there, stunned.
02 - THE. SOCIAL NETWORK (2010)
I remember the first time I heard about this film. I was like, “why are they making a film about the invention of Facebook?" And “why is David Fincher involved in this nonsense?”
Oh well, I was wrong. THE SOCIAL NETWORK is one of those movies that I always enjoy watching. The Facebook part of this is just background noise. The film is really about greed, revenge, ambition, and egos. And I love how it explores relationship dynamics through compelling characters. It also reflected where society was at and where it was headed in the early 2010s.
Aaron Sorkin really is one of the greatest screenwriters of our time. And he is on the top of his game here. He painted Mark Zuckerberg as a straight-up douchebag psychopath. And I loved it. The dialogues are also amazing and the amount of quotable lines in this movie is crazy. Sorkin at his best.
The Social Network was beautifully directed by Fincher. It has such a breathtaking pace, gorgeous cinematography, and is filled with great performances. Jesse Eisenberg truly shines as Zuckerberg, Andrew Garfield is amazing as Eduardo and even Justin Timberlake’s performance was surprisingly good. Plus, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' score is iconic. In the end, all comes together perfectly.
The funny thing is that a few years after this film was released, the real Mark Zuckerberg turned out to be indeed a douchebag psychopath. And Facebook is no longer the cool site where you can be in touch with your friends and family. Facebook is now just a right-wing, conspiracy propaganda machine for boomers.
David Fincher may have made the best supervillain origin movie ever.
01 - ZODIAC (2007)
I really love SE7VEN and THE SOCIAL NETWORK but, David Fincher's masterpiece, in my opinion, is ZODIAC.
Released in 2007, this movie is primarily based on books written by Robert Graysmith and it was expertly written by James Vanderbilt and extremely well directed by Fincher.
This is the best police investigation film ever made. Making a movie about real-life crimes that were never solved is one hell of a challenge. But Fincher did a terrific job here. The frustrating of watching the cops being held back by incompetence and lack of organization throughout the film never gets old to me. ZODIAC is basically about three people so obsessed with hunting a killer that they ended up compromising their lives and careers.
The film is a slow burn but has great tension, amazing cinematography and I really liked Fincher’s use of CGI. It is so clever, you can barely notice it. I also love the 1960s-70s San Francisco setting. The city looks gritty and dark, perfect for this kind of movie.
The casting is top-notch Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr, and Mark Ruffalo all delivered very solid performances. ZODIAC has also some horrifying moments. The scene at the lake (which was filmed at the very same spot where it really happened) and the basement scene are both chilling to the bone and some of the creepiest scenes in cinema history.
I know that a lot of people love to complain that the ending has no payoff. But then again, this is a real story and they never found the killer in real life. And for me, the idea the killer got away with murder, make the film even more spook.
Top 5 songs
These were the 5 songs on my heavy rotation this week. You can listen to them on
1 - YUNGBLUD feat. Machine Gun Kelly - Acting Like That
2 - Miley Cyrus feat. Billy Idol - Night Crawling
3 - KennyHoopla feat. Travis Barker - ESTELLA
4 -Bleachers feat. Bruce Springsteen - Chinatown
5 - FRND CRCL - Joyride 2.0
Soooo, these songs. What can I say? Well, YUNGBLUD and MGK tunes make me feel young. And I miss being 25! This year keep getting weirder and weirder. Miley Cyrus dropped a rock album and I liked it. 2020, am I right? KennyHoopla is my favorite new artist of this year. This song is fire! And I love how Travis Barker won’t be happy until he has collaborated with every musician on planet earth. A Bleachers and Bruce Springsteen collaboration? Hell yeah, I’m in. And to close the playlist I picked FRND CRCL because I’m a sucker for some super catchy Pop Punk.