A wonderfully done movie, innovative, intelligent, and plain old cool..

Rating: Null/10 (2 January 2000)

First of all, I must apologize for one of my shortcomings with this article. Due to my slackness in getting into the theater, I missed the first few minutes, but don't worry. Everything still came together. "Fight Club" is the newest dark film from director David Fichner ("Seven"). The main difference between the two is that this has a lot more undertones of comedy. The story itself follows the nameless main character, played by Edward Norton (American History X). This character (let's call him Jack) is having severe problems with his life: he feels like it is caving in on him. The entire movie is narrated by Jack, whose sense of dry wit is often amusing. He tries to make himself feel better by buying kitchen sets from catalogs, which is illustrated with an amazing shot of Jack walking through a living catalog, but nothing helps. Finally, Jack turns to support groups, visiting under false names and crying about diseases and afflictions he doesn't have.
Just as he starts to get his life to a tolerable state, "she" starts getting involved in the groups. "She" refers to Marla Singer, a trashy looking girl played by Helena Bonham Carter ("Hamlet"), who has a certain aura of Sadie Burke around her (if you don't understand, read "All the Kings Men"). Marla is a faker, like Jack, and Jack can't cry with another faker in the group. This leads the two of them to split up the seven support groups among themselves, and they each get each other's numbers. Now, Jack works for a transportation company and he has to make trips about accidents or other problems with vehicles. One of his trips leads him to meet Tyler Durden, an egotistical young soap salesman who is intrigued by Jack's cleverness. When Jack goes back home to his condo, he finds that his room is now a pile of smoking rubble. Needless to say, Jack needs help and calls upon Tyler, played by Brad Pitt ("Interview With a Vampire") for shelter in a run-down large house. One of the most powerful scenes in the film comes when Tyler and Jack sit down at a bar and discuss the way that life works. The conversation inside concludes with a statement by Tyler: "The things you own end up owning you." Then they take their talk outside, where Tyler asks Jack to hit him, after which they get into a full-fledged, good-natured fight.
This inspires the two of them to create the titular organization of "Fight Club", which becomes a haven for guys who want to, well, fight. The first rule: you do not talk about fight club. The movie then follows the evolution of the club and a romance involving Tyler and Jack with Marla as the center of attention. And everything goes smoothly. Until Tyler takes it too far. "Fight Club" is one of the cooler-looking movies I've seen this year. It's not my favorite, but it certainly was amazing in certain perspectives. The narration by Jack was, as said before, often hilarious. It constantly shows us the thoughts of Jack, and they're always interesting. There are a lot of cool flashbacks, interesting shots (such as a zooming out close-up of a filled trashcan), and weird thoughts (Jack's cave and his power animal).
This movie was not without drawbacks. I felt that some of the scenes were unnecessary and could have stood to be taken out. Plus, some of Tyler's actual antics bothered me quite a bit (but don't miss the pigeon thing). Also, this may not be a movie for girls, as it is more of an action movie than anything and makes itself quite clear that it is made for males. However, Tyler's basic philosophies kept me captivated. He holds many of the same views that I do. I especially like his statement from the previews: "We've all been raised by television to believe we'd all be rock stars and movie gods.but we won't." So, feel free to watch this movie if you can. I would say that it is worth the five or six bucks for a ticket. In the meantime, I shall be making and selling soap.