There are some filmmakers that have achieved a sort of superhuman standing in the eyes of their admirers. Their work is placed on another level, high above their contemporaries, seemingly untouchable by critics or detractors. Indeed, when criticisms of their films do arise, their fans rally in defense with almost crusade-like force. It makes an honest discussion of their work difficult, but the fact that they inspire such devotion means that theyre doing at least something right. David Fincher is one such filmmaker. While he achieved great success in the latter half of the '90s with films like Seven, The Game and Fight Club, hes grown from a Hollywood rebel into a more fully-formed filmmaker, taking on tough topics with a more mature, formal approach that still retain the toughness and grit of his earlier films. Director of only 9 feature length films in total, Fincher has established himself over the course of his career as one of Americas most important and interesting directors. Ranked from worst to best, here are the films of David Fincher...
9. Alien 3 (1992)
As a huge fan of the Alien series, Ive given Alien 3 (both the original and extended cut) numerous chances to suddenly surprise me and reveal itself as a lost, misinterpreted masterpiece. That hasnt happened (and not just because Im still bitter about Corporal Hicks being unceremoniously dispatched). Those who are familiar with the film already know about its troubled production, the script changes and rewrites that constantly hampered Finchers attempts to make his first feature a strong one. In the end, this troubled production is what dooms the film, making it feel not exactly incomplete, but certainly uneven. Which is a shame, because there are some very interesting things going on here. In Alien 3, Ripley herself is, in many ways, transformed both figuratively and literally into the Alien. Landing on a prison planet of all male inmates, she is something of an invader, a temptation and a threat to the order of the planet. Later on, we learn that shes carrying something else inside her, making her a literal Alien, which also flips the theme of surrogate motherhood from Aliens on its head. For a film thats quite messy in terms of its structure and plot, theres still a lot to chew on. But even here, in what is usually considered a failure, we see the promise that Fincher would deliver on later in his career. The setting and tone of the film are dark and industrial (much like Seven would be), and Fincher handles the concepts of the film as best he can, given the fact that the script was constantly in flux. Alien 3 may not be the misunderstood masterwork that many fans of the series want it to be, but its still worth watching for two reasons: to obviously see the continuation of the series (for better or worse), and to see how Alien 3, despite not being a great film, still feels like a Fincher film. To have your fingerprints felt on a film that got so out of control, especially in your first outing as director of a full length feature, is quite impressive.