Director: David Fincher
Year: 1999
Country: US
Language: English
Fight Club was my first review on this site on March 19th, 2012. I gave this film a 1/5 , claiming that it was "A celebration of fascism, shady philosophy and gratuitous violence" I recently found the will to watch the film just one more time. I was not only trying to find a redemptive quality to film, but also attempting to alter my opinion and write a more coherent review that will hopefully reach more people. This time, I will do my best not to criticize the writing as it is more the author's fault than anybody involved in making this film.
Fight Club is about a nameless narrator (Edward Norton) who attends support groups in attempt to overcome his emotional state and relieve his insomnia. There he meets Marla (Helena Bonham Carter) who attends for many similar reasons Soon he begins to associate himself with Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and gets dragged into creating an underground fight club which turns into a cult. Oh, and there's a plot twist mixed in there, because many mainstream films in the 90's had some inexplicable desire to cash in on The Usual Suspects' (1995) success.
Once more, from a technical standpoint this film is extremely well made. The lighting highlights the mood and atmosphere of the film, which is dark and gritty. The shots make us feel claustrophobic, the special effects are quite exquisite. There are many scenes, such as Norton shooting himself in the face, that left me asking "how did they do it?" The casting was well chosen, and even though the acting wasn't great, it didn't need to be. The cold, stale acting of Brad Pitt contributed well to his shady character. I suppose could be used to analyze what an almost neo-noir-ish film should look like, though Fincher's early film The Game is actually bearable to watch
My favourite line in famed critic Roger Ebert's scathing review of Fight Club is "It is not without irony that the first meeting he attends is for post-surgical victims of testicular cancer, since the whole movie is about guys afraid of losing their cojones," He is also correct when he calls this film "macho porn" It is masturbation material for angry teenagers and testosterone filled old men. The book in which this film is based does show Durden's actions as too extreme and wrong, but the film completely misses the point through its poor execution. It spends far too much time trying to make Edward Norton and Brad Pitt, who were at the peak of their popularity back then, look as cool as possible. It also spends too much time on the fighting aspect and dumb "minfuck" aspect to be anywhere close to sensible.
In conclusion, my statements are crystal clear when you see the "fight clubs" that were formed soon after the film was released. You can see that I'm speaking the truth when you talk to a fan on Fincher's Fight Club and they shout a mindless philosophical slogan. The decent message of the book was terribly executed by the film, it did not get any remotely intelligent point across and therefore even though the film is technically well made, it is complete trash. Do yourself a favor and follow the first rule of fight club, do NOT TALK about Fight Club! Piss on it! 2/5
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