An exceptionally poor film

Rating: 1/10 (11 January 2001)

A day after the experience, I am still trying to reconcile how the man who was responsible for the magnificent subtlety of "Seven" could create such garbage. Yes, the violence was gratuitous and excessive, but oddly enough that was the least of this films worries.
Where to begin? The plot was ridiculous on it's face, absolutely incoherent and nonsensical. The various themes of the movie were amplified and remarkably shallow, showing no real insight into the problems of our society. Ours is an overly commercial culture? This is neither original nor especially interesting, especially when repeated ad nauseam.
Fincher's direction and sophomoric MTV-style presentation did nothing to help a script that never got any further than "live free or die" (with minor variations). Most of the dialogue reminded me of something my high school English teacher used to say when her students ventured out of their league: "That's so deep it's shallow". This succinctly describes the handling of every major theme in the film.
Then there are the performances. Edward Norton, an otherwise gifted actor, does little with the simplistic character he's given. There is no complexity to this character whatsoever and Norton can do nothing to help define him. His early attempts at playing the neurotic are particularly unconvincing. Brad Pitt has more to work with in the Tyler Durden character, but his tendency to overplay absolutely everything about his character (even beyond what the script calls for, or should have called for) makes Norton's performance seem that much more vapid. Helena Bonham Carter simply showed up; throughout the movie, one had the feeling that she desperately wanted to be somewhere else. It seems hard to blame her.
Had this been the work of any number of other directors I could name, it would be easy to dismiss the overheated message of this film. Fincher is capable of such subtlety and craftsmanship that it is hard to believe he could put his name to such a juvenile, simplistic film. One hopes that "Seven" is not the only thing of beauty we see from Mr. Fincher.