Your Smirking Revenge

Rating: 9/10 (13 April 2006)

Couldn't you have refused? Really? Didn't you know there's a sort of sick desperation in your laugh? If you want to be financially successful, socially apt, and firmly on the career ladder, then this would be dangerous film to watch. David Fincher takes your long-forgotten playground rules, grows them up ten years, and cracks open a beer.
Compelling performances by Norton and Pitt punch out an epic narrative. Carter and Meat Loaf support respectively with barbed comments and unruly slugs. They force you to ask, "What do I expect from this film?" Imagine watching this film by yourself - it was a break in exam studying when I did - and expecting a John Woo action film. Feel yourself sucked into the film's brutal logic. Hear Tyler Durden shouting,
"All the ways you wish you could be, that's me. I look like you wanna look, I f**k like you wanna f**k, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not."
Of course, the film is carefully packaged to appeal to a certain audience. Let me say I'm happy to be part of that audience.