Mank Review: 7 Ups & 3 Downs

1. Some Of The Stylistic Excesses

Mank is more often than not a beautifully crafted movie which captures the vibe of '30s Hollywood with stylistic panache, though there are perhaps a few moments where Fincher gets a little too cute for his own good.

In what feels like the sort of vaguely hack-y move a lesser filmmaker would defer to, Fincher intentionally muffles all of the film's dialogue in order to give it a period feel, as is sure to annoy anyone watching the film on a quality sound system expect razor-ship dialogue quality.

But the issue is more that Fincher doesn't go hard enough with these flourishes: the musical score still sounds totally pristine, and the cinematography is presented in crystal clear 4K HDR with a contemporary aspect ratio.

If Fincher wants to present the film as of the period, why not go the whole hog rather than just make the dialogue sound muddy while everything else is still totally gorgeous?

These issues aside, Mank is absolutely well worth watching if you're a fan of Citizen Kane or are even remotely interested in the history of Hollywood. Here's everything Fincher gets right...