Gone Girl (2014)

4/5

David Fincher's adaptation of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl is extremely faithful to the source material. The novel is a disturbing, chilling story of twisted love and cunning revenge and Fincher brings it to the screen expertly. Nick Dunne (Affleck) discovers his wife Amy (Pike) has gone missing on the morning of their fifth anniversary under suspicious circumstances. Although their relationship started with unquestioning affection, it deteriorated over the years to a hateful place when the movie begins. And as the police investigation progresses, Nick is suspected of being her murderer. With a script that is very intelligent in what it retains and what it excises, the story has plenty of twists and turns to surprise and shock.

The casting is spot-on. Ben Affleck plays Nick to perfection, exuding calm aloofness at inopportune times or cool charm when it counts. He is able to be loved then hated then admired then disdained. He is as complex as you could imagine him to be, and then some. Rosamund Pike steals the show as her persona is gradually revealed over the course of the film. I don't want to ruin any of the surprise, but you will be absolutely stunned by this performance. She is a revelation.

Fincher's directing is as smooth and atmospheric as ever. Cinematography is moody and brooding; editing is tense but pensive. Everything works together to present a polished, pristine version of incomprehensible acts of evil and villainy. Even the way the on screen text is displayed, from the way the intro credits seem to disappear just a half-second too quickly to the way the dates fade in as the story progresses, works to unsettle you.

But despite how well-made it is, both as an adaptation of a book and a film in its own right, the story is just too exhausting, too excruciating to watch more than once. It deflates you and disgusts you. The poignant points are all cynical ones and the movie seems to deliver a message without hope. It is worth watching once, but take in as much as you can when you do because I can't imagine many people will take much pleasure in rewatching it.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2267998/

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)

4/5

David Fincher's remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is as terrifying, gripping, and disturbing as the Swedish version. When I first heard Fincher was doing the American remake, I was ecstatic. The content and atmosphere was classic Fincher, and the extended 8-minute trailer was riveting. To say my expectations were high was an understatement: they were nigh unattainable. And, lo and behold, the movie failed to meet them.

Much of my disappointment stems from the fact that this is so similar to the Swedish version. I typically favor American remakes (such as The Departed) as they inherently bring uniquely American cultural and social viewpoints that we can better relate to, independent of the quality of the directing or the cinematic techniques. But here, I just didn't get that. It felt overly faithful to the Swedish film, to the point of zealotry, and there was very little that was new or different.

The changes that Fincher did make were fairly minimal, but had enormous impact. I was a little bit more confused by the Vanger family tree this time around (although you would think it would be less confusing having already seen it and having it in English this go around). The beginning felt extended while the ending felt rushed. And the minor variation in the ending had huge implications for Lisbeth's character that I just can't shake. I have no idea how the novel ended, but I feel that Fincher's ending broke down the entire essence and persona of the titular character. She feels like a completely different Lisbeth.

Don't get me wrong. This is an absolutely engrossing movie, made with directorial precision and technical finesse. Beautiful cinematography, phenomenal music, and stellar acting. Rooney Mara more than holds her ground against the powerhouse that was Noomi Rapace. Perhaps I just set my sights too high, and perhaps I am being much too critical of the film, but I feel like the Swedish version speaks to me more. It has its imperfections, as does this American version, but the Swedish version is the one I think of whenever I think of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo."

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568346/

The Social Network (2010)

5/5

David Fincher's The Social Network is a vibrant, invigorating film filled with excitement and possibility. The movie chronicles the beginning of the new digital era of human interactions. It is not so much about the creator of Facebook as it is about the unrelenting, self-propelled technology that everybody is trying their best to keep up with. It is a classic story of how we as a society deal with each other, how we share stories, how we reveal our emotions. It tackles betrayal, regret, and love. The plot itself is based on two lawsuits launched against Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg (Eisenberg). The first is by fellow Harvard undergrads Divya Narendra (Minghella) and the Winklevoss twins (Hammer) for stealing their idea, originally called Harvard Connection. The second is by best friend, co-founder, and CFO Eduardo Saverin (Garfield) for being written out of his share of stock options.

It is difficult to describe how compelling this movie is. The script is an absolute treasure. It unites fast-paced, witty, intellectual dialogue with important, ancient thematics. It is fresh and edgy and filled with electricity. The cinematography is beautiful and appropriately moody. The editing may be one of the most underrated aspects of this movie, but it is essential to its success. The story could have easily taken 3 hours, especially given Fincher's propensity for making movies longer than they need to be, but I'm thankful that they were able to edit it down to just 2 hours. It is expertly paced with only the essential ideas. And last but not least is the acting. It is spot-on. The characters are full and richly textured. You feel their pain and heartache and sorrow. You are enraptured by their vivacity and exhilaration. They are not just fascinating character studies. They are living and breathing people with the same unique talents and flaws that you love and hate about your friends and enemies.

And of course there is the subject matter. I wonder what it means that everybody who saw this movie went home and posted their thoughts about it on Facebook. People complained that this movie came out too soon: Facebook's role is still being sorted out. We are right in the middle of it and don't know how it will all play out in the end. But I think now is the best time to make and release this movie precisely because we are still in the thick of it. People said the same thing about 9/11 movies, but they remain some of the best and most memorable movies because they are tied to my memory of life events and contain universal themes. This movie is exactly the same. And while it may not have all the facts right and may be biased one way or another, it is a phenomenal story that is flawlessly told. It must be seen, and sooner rather than later.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285016/

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

2/5

When I first heard about David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button a year ago, I must admit I was very excited. But the more I saw trailers for it, the less and less thrilled I became. And when I finally saw the movie, my feelings had turned completely dead to what I originally thought was an innovative concept. I don't know why it happened, but I'm sad that it did, because I was unable to truly enjoy this movie. After thinking about what it meant to age backwards, to see everyone you "grew up" with die, to love someone and lose them, I let those thoughts all percolate in my mind. And by the time I saw the movie, there was nothing new for me to take away from it.

If you strip out the gimmick, you'll see that the story itself is fairly plain and uninteresting. It's as if they wanted to make a new Forrest Gump but ran out of interesting stories and just went with second-rate ones. And it's long. You can try convincing yourself that it's a sweeping epic, but you'd just be lying to yourself. It was like watching Ben Stein read War and Peace. The acting was all right, although I never really felt it to be a powerful or emotionally gripping piece. The romance was unconvincing and quite frightening actually. The pacing was lethargic, and many worthless scenes were kept when they should have been cut. The best thing that can be said about this movie is its visual style. Fincher knows good cinematography. And with that, seamlessly integrating CGI into it. Even in that regard, however, it resembled a Jeunet picture (Amelie, A Very Long Engagement) more than a Fincher picture (Seven, Zodiac) because the tones were much warmer than I'm used to seeing from Fincher. Fincher directing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button felt like Lynch directing The Elephant Man.

Overall, I have to say I'm very disappointed with this film. I don't know how "bad" it is, but I do know I got nothing out of it. I can see others enjoying it, but I don't know how deep their appreciation for it really goes. To me, it felt like the filmmakers took a great concept and wrote 3 hours of filler around it. And much like Memento, we're left with a movie that a lot of people like for its initial idea, but is ultimately a subpar, immature, unfinished picture. At its heart, there's really nothing this film has to offer me except negative three hours and negative eight bucks.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421715/

Zodiac (2007)

4/5

Zodiac is a 2 hour and 40 minute epic about the real-life unsolved case of a serial killer terrorizing the California community in the late 60's and early 70's, the media sensation covering it, and one cartoonist's obsession with it. Fincher's directing was phenomenal throughout; despite the film's running time, I was tense and terrified the entire time. The acting by all was equally stellar and a real pleasure to watch. The music did a great job at setting and maintaining mood. The cinematography and editing were just as amazing, and probably Fincher's best to date. Eye-catching shots were crisp and clean with a glossy sheen; I loved the silky smooth shadows flowing across people's faces, cars, and houses. The beginning had a lot of unique point-of-view and tracking/following shots, but they were gradually replaced with more traditional shots as the bulk of the content began. This film's greatest strengths are the flawlessly-captured time and place and the thoroughly-detailed characters. And the script was witty and fun.

The biggest detractor from the movie was its length. The movie consists of several main stories that could each have their own film, and if you're not interested in one, that's half the movie that's gonna bore you. None of the stories felt tacked on because they were all given a great amount of depth, but perhaps too much for everyone's tastes. Luckily, I loved all the stories and didn't really mind the length because of the great acting and great directing. The movie needs to decide what it wants to tell and tell that; instead it provides a great many details from a great many number of sources with no main driving force. Characters appear and drop off when the details bring them to the forefront. Many subplots seemed forced, as if every lead in the case and new piece of evidence required a thrilling story to go with it. Also, the movie loses a little steam at around the 2/3 mark, when a typical movie would be approaching its end and this one has none in sight. All in all, however, I highly recommend this film if you are at all interested in detective stories or movies about serial killers. This one is fantastic, and it goes past the surface of a simple story and into the real effects on the lives of those following the case.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0443706/