You've never seen anything like this before...

Rating: 8/10 (21 May 2011)

Fight Club is certainly a one of a kind movie. It received decent reviews when first released in 1999, but seems to have risen largely in popularity over the years, and now sits comfortably in the IMDb top 20. I felt obliged to give this movie a shot after hearing the massive amounts of praise given to it by internet users all over the place.
And I was pleased with what I saw.
Fight Club follows an insecure insomniac who is mysteriously known only as "the Narrator" (played very well by Edward Norton.) During the first ten minutes of the film, we find out that the Narrator lives an uninspiring and empty life, with other people's suffering being his joy. We get the impression that the Narrator's life has no purpose, that is until he meets Tyler Durton (played by Brad Pitt in an unforgettable performance), who is essentially the man the Narrator wants to be. Tyler is loud, violent, and while his methods for solving problems are questionable, they often seem to work. The way that the Narrator and Tyler are almost complete opposites makes the film very interesting to watch.
After the Narrator's apartment is mysteriously burnt down, he goes and stays with Tyler, who soon gets the idea to start illegal, underground "fight clubs," places men can go to literally beat out all their inner aggression and woe on other men who are feeling similar emotional pain. From that point on, things start to get a little crazy and out of control, but to go into too much more detail would spoil many of Fight Club's crazier and more unexpected moments.
Fight Club has some very good performances in it. Edward Norton and Brad Pitt, are great, and Helena Bonham Carter as the mysterious Marla Singer is also a lot of fun to watch. The soundtrack and writing are solid, and David Fincher does a great job directing this movie, injecting it with bundles of style thanks to some inventive camera angles and surreal imagery.
Fight Club is a movie that can be enjoyed as simply a piece of entertainment, yet there is also a lot of themes and messages that may not be completely obvious to some one who isn't deliberately looking out for them. This helps Fight Club to be a movie that you can certainly watch numerous times (and trust me, you will want to watch it more than once).
Despite my praise, I do have to say that Fight Club is not quite perfect. My one major complaint is that none of the characters are all that likable. Half seem to come across as whiny snobs, while the other half come across as extremely violent and brutal individuals. There are certainly no role models in Fight Club, and no clear cut black vs white either, just many, many shades of grey. The film feels very existentialist as well, as it left me with a slightly empty feeling upon finishing it. But then again, that may have been the film's intention...
So while I don't feel like Fight Club is exceptional, I'd still be fine with saying it's a damn great movie, and one that I'd definitely recommend to any fan of movies over the age of sixteen. I also suggest buying it as well, as it's one you'll want to watch multiple times.
One rule though: Don't talk about it.