FIGHT CLUB RATING: 8.5 / 10 --> Excellent movie
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Wow. Director David Fincher has now made three extremely original and powerful films in a row. He created SEVEN (9/10), the best thriller of the nineties, THE GAME (8/10), an excellent film featuring a labyrinthian script with plenty of twists and turns, and now, FIGHT CLUB, a man's movie which accentuates the director's uniquely creative touch alongside an impeccably written script sure to elicit plenty of insight and discussion. All in all, I would say that the man is having a great decade!
PLOT: A young, disheartened male hooks up with another cool rockin' young male who likes to live life to its rawest, and the two men start up a local "fight club", which no one (including this critic) can talk about. When the high of the fights are no longer enough to satisfy the duo, they decide to take things to another level.
CRITIQUE: Every now and then, a film comes along with balls big enough to pull you by the hair, bang you against the wall and order you to "wake the fuck up!" and question your entire purpose of life. AMERICAN BEAUTY was a variance of that type of film, primarily targeted to the baby-boom family audience. FIGHT CLUB is the fantasy answer to many of the questions facing the doomed male "generation Xers" of the nineties. When contemplating your reality is a task too depressing to reflect upon, why not invent your own tangible existence and allow it to replenish your lost spirit and sense of direction? This film gave me a strong sense of power, a visceral energy, opening my eyes to aspects of my life which had previously laid dormant. I understood Norton's character. He spoke to me. He understood me. He understood a lot of my buddies. We understood him. This film is NOT for everyone. It's quite long at close to two and a half hours, it's deeper than the commercials make it out to be, and it's definitely going to be appreciated on certain levels more by men than women. And that ain't sexist, that's just like I think THELMA & LOUISE is a great movie, but some women considered it to be their wake-up call. FIGHT CLUB would be ours.
Most importantly, besides all of the philosophical poignancies of this film, is the fact that the movie entertained me thoroughly. It had a Fincher-feel (We could say that now), many unique ways of presenting the film's developments, a dark, brooding look, excellent portrayals by all of the actors involved, a pounding soundtrack, which I wish they had utilized to a stronger degree, black humor (!), and a conclusion which can only make you want to see the film all over again. Toss all that in with plenty of LOST HIGHWAY-type touches, homosexual undertones, and oh yes...a hot, steaming plate of the ol' ultra-violence!! Unlike some people, I do not think any of the violence in this film was overdone, in fact, once you understand the message of the film, you should truly be able to appreciate its precise raison-d'etre. It's not even about the fight clubs themselves (Nuff said)! Another thing I loved about this film is its trailer, which thankfully gave us very little about the plot, and left so much more to the imagination. Excellent appetizer! Another sign of a great film is when it has me chattering it up with my buddies afterwards. FIGHT CLUB kept us yapping for hours on end. Figuring this thing out, then another thing, and yet another. Very cool!
One piece of advice that I will hand over to people who have yet to see this film is that you should go in with a completely open mind. It is very important for you, much like the main character in this film, to flush all of your preconceptions and expectations of a film. See it as a painting and study its texture while discovering its many sorted hidden messages. Or better yet...see it so that you could check out Brad Pitt's crazy six-pack abs!! Wow, what a man and whatta movie! See it or I'll have to fight you in the parking lot after work!
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: Seeing that comparisons to the Kubrick classic CLOCKWORK ORANGE seemed inevitable (Fellow online movie critic James Berardinelli called it "the 90s version of CLOCKWORK ORANGE), it's nice to see that the screenwriter also saw the connection as he included the word "clockwork" in one of Norton's dialogue pieces. Listen for it during the last half hour of the film. Another "in-joke" in this movie has Pitt and Norton walking out onto a sidewalk which features a movie theatre in the background. The marquee on the theatre reads SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET, Brad Pitt's 1997 unsuccessful film. Helena Bonham Carter's character of Marla was the last role to be cast by director David Fincher who reportedly chose the Oscar-nominated star over Rosanna Arquette, Courtney Love, and Winona Ryder. Originally, the title role of Tyler Durden was open to Sean Penn as well. I don't think that I'm the only one who caught these, but during the first half hour of the movie, I noticed several "subliminal" Tyler Durden appearances pop up in scenes in which he was not a part. Think about it. In order to look the thuggish part, Brad Pitt had a dentist chisel out notches in his front teeth. The 8 Rules of Fight Club are: 1) You do not talk about Fight Club 2) You do not talk about Fight Club 3) When someone says "Stop" or goes limp, the fight is over 4) Only two guys to a fight 5) One fight at a time 6) No shirts, no shoes 7) Fights go on as long as they have to 8) If this is your first night at Fight Club, you have to fight. According to his publisher, novelist Chuck Palahniuk (pronounced paul-ah-nik) is a thirty-four-year-old Caucasian male, five-foot-eleven, one hundred ninety pounds, brown, green. Of French and Russian descent, he is attributed to Carol and Fred Palahniuk. He has no distinguishing marks, and was a technical writer churning out manuals on trucks, service and cars before he hit it big with his first novel entitled "Fight Club". Fight Club inspirations? "I did some volunteer work in a hospice for the terminally ill a couple of years ago and that's where a lot of the stuff in the book came from. I really loved how people who were really facing it - facing death - could be really honest and funny and I found that really inspiring to be around. Furthermore, many of the things that happen in Fight Club are actual things that have happened to people I know. It's funny, friends who have recognized themselves in the book come up to me and are really flattered that I remembered them at a party two days ago. People recognize their cars, houses and their story and they're so thrilled to have read it in a book."
Review Date: October 7, 1999
Director: David Fincher
Writer: Jim Uhls (based on Chuck Palahniuk novel)
Producers: Ross Bell, Cean Chaffin and Art Linson
Actors: Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden
Edward Norton as Jack
Helena Bonham Carter as Marla Singer
Genre: Thriller
Year of Release: 1999
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(c) 1999 Berge Garabedian
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