Review: Fight Club Starring: Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter Directed by David Fincher
As any reasonable human being would, I must admit that occasionally I am befuddled by certain things. I am befuddled by Fight Club. Now sometimes our favorite films are panned by critics and do not achieve critical success until much later, sometimes as much as ten or twenty years later. Perhaps it is because these films are way ahead of their time. Perhaps it is because they are so new and complex that only after years of allowing them to sink in do we truly appreciate and understand them. Fight Club is either garbage or brilliant, but, at least right now, I must lean toward the former.
Maybe I am subconsciously affected by word of mouth that has been slowly leaking throughout the media for weeks that this film is pure gold. But if it is, I sure donıt see it.
Edward Norton plays Jack, a field examiner for a major automobile manufacturer. His insomnia, coupled with his compulsive desires to fill his world with IKEA furniture to ³complete² himself, make him a loser at the game of life. But when all of his worldly possessions are blown out his 15th story window, he seeks comfort in a stranger, Tyler (Pitt) whom he met on a flight home. Once Jack is sucked into Tylerıs world, he canıt get out, literally. They begin Fight Club, an organization based on brutal and bloody fistfights that signify nothing other than to provide those that join a sense of belonging. As the Fight Club grows, things get out of control and take on cult status, beginning with one future soldier who proves his worth by standing still outside Tylerıs house for three days. I dare not even begin to bring up the last quarter of the film, since that contains the twist that ³explains² the pointless journey.
Suffice it to say I was truly disappointed in Fincher, whoıs previous two films, Se7en and The Game put him in a very slim category of truly brilliant young filmmakers of the next generation. This is not to imply by any means that he is no longer a genius or capable of bringing more masterpieces to the table. But with Fight Club, he has allowed his unique talent for extraordinary vision to be distorted by silly digital experiments and self-referencing film elements, such as talking to the audience about what they are seeing, telling them that the little blips in the right hand corner are signifiers that the projectionist is changing reels and that a slightly altered recurring line is good ³flashback humor².
Now, throughout the filmıs coarsely woven texture and over-extended plot lines, Fight Club is obviously trying to make various social comments about the state of the world today. Advertisements, inter-office politics, corporations, you name it, itıs addressed. (Though the media are suspiciously absent from the institutions that are referenced.) All of them play an important role. How so? Well, I can kinda just tell. I canıt really put my finger on it. To say that Starbucks and Barnes & Noble are taking over their respective markets and kicking out the small business owner is no big news. Is that bad for the world? Probably. Not much room for social commentary there. We all know that inter-office politics are just that...politics. So what was the point of all this? The film seems desperate to make a point, or a number of points, but I couldnıt figure out what they were.
All I saw was a very bizarre social satire that was woven with strange film techniques, a bleak visual design and some fine acting. (Pitt, Carter, Norton...all of them are good. Even Meatloaf is good.) When you get to the end, you will most likely be filled with questions, many of which the filmmakers wanted you to ask of yourself. Not them, because each of them would likely give you a different answer. Fight Club means what you want it to mean, I think Fincher just gives you the stuff to think about. But it couldnıt be more bizarre and unappealing. Sure, it had shock value, but so did Se7en and The Game, and they were significantly stronger films.
* 1/2 out of * * * * stars
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