Fincher is one of my favorite directors and Fassbender one of my favorite actors. So naturally i was so hyped for this movie because i also like the crime, atmospheric, neo/noir genre. But i got disappointed. Not because the movie is bad but because it had way more potential. It's not a bad movie but neither a great one. I think the revenge story simple plot of the movie brings this movie down as we have seen the same trope in countless films, with nothing unique in this movie to elevate it to a higher level.
The concept of the movie by Fincher's ambition is to bring us to the mind of a professional hit-man, how he views his daily life, his people around him and what it takes to finish the task in hand. He achieves this with many internal monologues, expressions and feelings of his facial expressions, his struggles both physical and mental. As a concept is cool yes, but it isn't enough to elevate the movie to something special.
One thing i really hoped the movie had was not a revenge story. A good plot thread would be how he slowly loses it mentally by the constant pressure of all these killings to both innocent people and not. How a big toll and burden is for him mentally with each new assassination. Because that can happen to the most cold blooded serial killers. How he slowly losses it and isn't well to operate to a professional level anymore. And as a result he decides to quit his job. But the people who he worked with need his skills. So he has to hide and face them all one by one coming for him. That is an example of a better concept at least for me.
Another concept the movie that could have explored in combination with my first example or separately from it is the assassinations. After his last hit, he is already burdened mentally from all these years working, he realizes that his contract that's assigned to him is to kill a whole family including little kids. And he refuses because he has at least a red line. And his decline to the contract spirals a manhunt through the entire movie. I already gave two examples of how the movie could have worked far better than a simple revenge story plot.
The cinematography of the movie was just a ok, nothing that blew my mind, have seen better honestly even from Fincher himself, and the musical score could have been better. It is a movie that i recommend watching one time in your couch and that's it. Nothing less nothing more. My dream neo-noir crime movie would be a Max Payne adaptation by David Fincher as the plot is already complete from the games and Fincher would do the perfect adaptation with his unique style but i know it will never happen sadly.
The concept of the movie by Fincher's ambition is to bring us to the mind of a professional hit-man, how he views his daily life, his people around him and what it takes to finish the task in hand. He achieves this with many internal monologues, expressions and feelings of his facial expressions, his struggles both physical and mental. As a concept is cool yes, but it isn't enough to elevate the movie to something special.
One thing i really hoped the movie had was not a revenge story. A good plot thread would be how he slowly loses it mentally by the constant pressure of all these killings to both innocent people and not. How a big toll and burden is for him mentally with each new assassination. Because that can happen to the most cold blooded serial killers. How he slowly losses it and isn't well to operate to a professional level anymore. And as a result he decides to quit his job. But the people who he worked with need his skills. So he has to hide and face them all one by one coming for him. That is an example of a better concept at least for me.
Another concept the movie that could have explored in combination with my first example or separately from it is the assassinations. After his last hit, he is already burdened mentally from all these years working, he realizes that his contract that's assigned to him is to kill a whole family including little kids. And he refuses because he has at least a red line. And his decline to the contract spirals a manhunt through the entire movie. I already gave two examples of how the movie could have worked far better than a simple revenge story plot.
The cinematography of the movie was just a ok, nothing that blew my mind, have seen better honestly even from Fincher himself, and the musical score could have been better. It is a movie that i recommend watching one time in your couch and that's it. Nothing less nothing more. My dream neo-noir crime movie would be a Max Payne adaptation by David Fincher as the plot is already complete from the games and Fincher would do the perfect adaptation with his unique style but i know it will never happen sadly.