David Fincher, Modern Master of the Thriller?

Since his 1995 breakthrough success 'Seven' David Fincher has become one of Hollywood's household names achieving great commercial success for dramas such as 'The Social Network' and 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.' But thrillers such Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac, The Game and Panic Room are why Fincher become such an important modern director.

For his debut feature film Fincher was given the improbable task of continuing the legacy of the 'Alien' movies following the great success of 'Alien' and 'Aliens.' Despite success at the box office Alien 3 was  considered a failure and was poorly received amongst critics. However he bounced back with stunning psychological thriller 'Seven' which massively exceeded box office expectations. Following his success with Seven, Fincher went on to direct 'The Game,' starring Micheal Douglas, which was well received and was another box office success. Fincher's masterpiece came in 1999 when he directed 'Fight Club.' Despite underwhelming box office success the release of Fight Club on DVD propelled its commercial success, Fight Club is now considered to be one of the greatest films of all time and was rated 10th on Empire's 'Top 500 Movies' and IMDb's 'Top 250 Movies.' Fincher has continued to make successful thrillers in the 21st century with movies like the suspense ridden 'Panic Room' and the crime mystery 'Zodiac.' 

Fincher has gone on to make movies more fitted to the drama genre, but has still had success with thrillers such as his remake of 'The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo.' However the question is how does Fincher compare to other modern masters of the thriller as well as the classic thriller directors. The thrillers that Fincher make can in some ways be likened very closely to Scorsese movies. Like Scorsese, Fincher likes to focus on the isolation of characters and their struggle with right and wrong. Tarantino personally says that Fincher is one of his favourite modern directors. Their are similarities between the directors in there attention to detail as well as both directors specialising in creating tension. 

Fincher's work was also been likened to the great Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock is considered to be the pioneer of the thriller as well as the use of suspense within his movies. Fincher was been known for using many Hitchcock techniques within his movies such as linear simplicity as well as leaving questions unanswered within his films.

I personally believe that from 1995 onwards Fincher has been the World's best thriller director with his films consistently keeping their shock factor and suspense. However in terms of all time greats He definitely falls short of Scorsese, Tarantino and Hitchcock. I also believe that if Christopher Nolan continues to make films like Inception and the Dark Knight, Fincher could have some serious competition for Master of the Modern Thriller.