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| Fight Club
Year: 1999
Classification: Action
Country: Action
Language: English
Actors/Actresses:
- Helena Bonham Carter
- Jared Leto
- Edward Norton
- Brad Pitt
Near-perfect
I can see why 'Fight Club' would be easy to hate, but I can't see how it's possible not to simultaneously love it.
It is just so incredibly cool! David Fincher is clearly developing the filmmaking techniques of the future here, with special effects used non-obtrusively throughout the film. The man has a visual sense unmatched in mainstream cinema, and along with the clever and hilarious script this means the movie is like a long series of set pieces.
Those who dislike 'Fight Club' (excluding people who just can't cope with the actually-not-so-explicit violence) typically do so because they either see an offensive "message" in it (fascist, anarchist or conformist depending on the reviewer), aren't impressed with the level of insight achieved, or feel the film is a mess of contradictory ideas. The first group is clearly deluded, as the people behind the film have expressed healthy scepticism about any ideologies presented in the film, but the other two have a point. The film DOESN'T offer a solution, and it IS a mess of ideas and emotions. That's because it is about our culture at the eve of the Millennium, which is just as confused and inconclusive.
No, its (only) real flaw lies elsewhere, in the storytelling. The identity-twist near the end makes sense the second and third time you see the film, but on first viewing it seems artificial and constructed. Similarly, the faux-happy ending is too indistinguishable from genuine Hollywood schmaltz. These two points could have been communicated to the audience in a better way, but otherwise the film is just about flawless.
Fight Club (1999) d: Fincher, David
Directed by David Fincher, Fight Club is a very weird movie that people either loved or hated. It is a dark; very satiric, and incredibly funny movie. Our star played by Edward Norton [American History X (1998)], on one of his many business trips, meets Tyler Durden played Brad Pitt [Kalifornia (1993) / Seven (1995, also directed by David Fincher)], a sly soap-salesman and jack-of-all-trades. When Edward Norton's high rise apartment is mysteriously firebombed, he turns to Brad Pitt for help. After a few drinks, both learn that neither has ever been in a fight. Pitt asks Norton to punch him. The 'Fight Club' is born. Channeling primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy the concept catches on, with underground 'Fight Clubs' forming in every town. Becoming a weekly testosterone social event, the club soon begins to grow, then mutate into a terrorist organization known as 'Project Mayhem'. A nihilistic cult that subverts and disrupt society whenever possible, through pranks and anti-corporate aggression. Throughout the film director David Fincher uses stylized subliminal editing, exciting camerawork, and digital effects to make a his work come to life. The film ends with a surprise ending similar to The Six Sense (1999), when Norton realizes that he is having a "mid-life crisis", and has created an charismatic, alter ego split personality. The DVD is full so many extras that they needed a second disc fit them all on.
Not bad, but...
OK, blend Matrix, Guy Richi, and Osama Bin Laden and you get a masterpiece? A funny comedy, not more. Fight Club is brilliant in the beginning with all that satire, but when it gets philosophical, I felt like I have seen this before.
Buy Fight Club at Amazon.com
Buy posters at Allposters.com
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