This shocking, disturbing film proves David Fincher to be a Great American Filmaker of the New Generation.

Rating: 9/10 (21 February 2003)

First of all, let me say this, THIS IS VERY DISTURBING! Although this film is not nearly as violent as David Fincher's first great film 'Se7en', it is about ten times more disturbing and shocking. It makes the shocking 1971 Best Picture Nominee 'A Clockwork Orange' directed by desceased veteran film director Stanley Kubrick, look like a Disney film. You'll be surprised how much less you will flinch on a man getting shot through the back of the head, than you will when you see a scary man brutally beat himself almost to death with his bare hands, while hearing the carteldge crunch in break. Another reason why it is more disturbing is because everywhere, everyone, and everything is so filthy in the film. The story is about a depressed insomniac (Edward Norton - in a great performance that should have earned him an Oscar nominee) who doesn't know his name. Since he wants people to talk to him he goes meetings for terminally ill and addicts, such as A.A. , testicular cancer meetings, ect. He feels good there since people talk to him, and don't just tune him out like the rest of the world does. One day at a meeting, a tourist, Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter) comes into the meeting and steals his precious attention. Since him and her are the only people who go to the meetings who are faking an illness or addiction they hate each other. After that the movie splits into a kind of like two part movie. The first part I love. The first part is when the narrator (Edward Norton) meets a drifter by name of Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) who makes soap from stealing extra fat from a place that does liposuction. After they become friends and start living together they both share a horrible and mischievous hobby of street fighting. So, they decide to start up a club where people come to a place at night, forget and never talk about their life and fight, hence the film's title 'Fight Club'. There are a couple rules of Fight Club that are made by Tyler and the narrator, 1) Do Not Talk About Fight Club; 2) Do Not Talk About Fight Club!; 3) When someone says 'Stop' or goes limp, the fight is over; 4) Only two guys to a fight; 5) One fight at a time; 6) No shirts and No Shoes; 7) Fights go on as long as they have to; 8) If this is your first night at Fight Club, YOU HAVE TO FIGHT. After a couple of brutal fight scenes, and Edward Norton brutally beating himself in front of his boss horrifying him, the film goes into it's second part. I got kind of lost in the second part, but I have got to admit this part was very interesting at the least. The second part is when Fight Club turns into something a little bit more violent and frightening than beating each other silly for fun. In this part, they decide to blow up a federal bank to screw up the credit accounts. This expedition is led by the notorious Tyler Durden. When Edward Norton finds out about his evil plan, he tries to stop Tyler Durden. It gets even more weird after that with a surprise ending that will leave you stumped. This is a great adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk spellbinding novel that will make many of the novel's fans pleased. The movie's great cinematography, film editing, acting, writing and especially directing (thanks to the excellent David Fincher) makes this film Fincher's second best film, slightly not living up to the standard of 'Se7en'. Grade: A-