Quite an accomplishment

Rating: 10/10 (2 September 2010)

Brad Pitt and Edward Norton are in the "Fight Club," a 1999 film directed by David Fincher and written by Jim Uhls. The movie also stars Helena Bonham Carter, Meat Loaf, and Zach Grenier.
Edward Norton is Jack, the Narrator of the film (though there is some controversy over his name). Tired of his job, his life, and his boss, he finds great satisfaction by attending group sessions for alcoholics, drug addicts,compulsive gamblers, compulsive eaters, cancer victims, etc. He soon encounters another group groupie, the bizarre Marla Singer (Carter), and realizes that when she's in a group with him, he has no release of his feelings. So the two make a deal and split up the meetings and the nights they attend.
When Jack returns from a trip, his apartment is in flames. With nowhere to go, he calls a man he met on the plane, Tyler Durden, and goes to live with him in an old, decrepit, filthy house. The two soon become involved in forming an underground Fight Club, where Jack finds the release he seeks, learns who he is as a man, and develops assertiveness and courage.
Okay, like "Mulholland Drive," that's the story on the surface, but the film isn't really about what was described above. It's a complicated, dark, violent story about tearing down superficial values, ripping into rampant consumerism, and really feeling and living instead of existing.
"Fight Club" starts off as quite funny, actually, with Jack and Marla arguing over who's going to the prostate cancer meeting, and becomes progressively darker, stranger, and faster as it races to a surprising ending. Unfortunately for me, it took me too long to see the film, so the ending wasn't such a surprise. I would have loved to experience the full impact of it.
The performances from Norton, Pitt, and Carter are fabulous. All three are shown to their absolute best advantage. Norton for some reason is always a little underrated. He does a beautiful job. Carter years ago made a seamless transition from ingénue to leading lady, and this, like Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, is more of a character role.
"Fight Club" is horrific to watch in parts because of the violence, but it's worth getting through it to see a truly masterful film.