Mesmerizing

Rating: 10/10 (28 September 2002)

I avoided this movie for a long time, assuming it to be just another Patrick Swayze-'Roadhouse'-type "chick-flick": you know, where a bunch of pretty boys with greased chests preen and posture, until the prettiest of them all finally wins the heart of the poor, threatened damsel.
Could I possibly have been any more wrong?
This is one of the finest examples of intelligent film-making I have ever seen, as well as the most compelling piece of storytelling I can think of.
The cast shine brightly, especially Edward Norton, who turns in a near-flawless performance; and what a shock to discover that Brad Pitt *can* act, after-all!
Visually beautiful, expertly crafted sound, with a splendid overall ambiance as a result.
From a narrative perspective, the plot 'twist' is interesting, but I feel it is of lesser importance than the message which, paradoxically, should repel me the most - that the current generation of western men have been socially and emotionally emasculated by a cartel of too-powerful and domineering women, and unjust laws and privileges bestowed upon females by a society petrified of being branded Politically Incorrect.
As a woman, I naturally and instinctively object to such ideas, but as an honest and intelligent person, not yet fully blinded by propaganda and femmo-Nazi mind-control methods, I have to regretfully concede some truth to it. Men ain't what they used to be.
And whilst I don't miss the "women as chattels" mentality of days of yore, nor the old tendency of authority to turn a blind-eye to the likes of domestic abuse, I can't help but think of the words to a particularly apt song: "Where Have All The Cowboys Gone"?
'Fight Club' gives me some hope that perhaps, somewhere out there, men are thinking about being men again. As a woman, I welcome the concept.
'Fight Club' should be viewed, not just as a superlative piece of film-making, nor as a brutal and bloody piece of entertainment, but as a clarion call to all people to discard the fear of the accountants and managers, and learn to be independent individuals once more.
10 out of 10. Period.