Vicious, surreal, and brilliant

Rating: 9/10 (11 July 2004)

I thought I knew the premise of this film: men forming an
underground fight club to get back to the basics of raw, visceral
`manhood" in our regulated, civilized society. Well, it was about
that, plus much more. In what is actually a deeply satirical and
surreal tale, Edward Norton plays a young put-upon corporate
office hack into our modern consumer culture but vaguely unhappy
with his life and attending a multitude of support groups, even
though he doesn't share the other members' situations, until he
meets an offbeat soap seller (Brad Pitt) on a train and they
accidentally exchange suitcases. The two end up living with each
other and in a rather bizarre manner, which just gets stranger as it
goes, fight each other for stimulation and form a fight club which is
soon joined by many willing others. Adding to the intrigue is the
interest of Norton and Pitt in another offbeat character Marla, well
played by Helena Bonham Carter. Also notable is Meat Loaf's
character Robert Paulson, a big man who developed feminine
breasts after a bout with testicular cancer. The film is certainly not
just about the fighting, which doesn't even begin until a half hour
into the movie, although there is plenty of vicious raw flesh and
blood grappling and crunching to satisfy all but the most sadistic
fan. Rather the story develops into even more surrealistic twists to
several surprises at the end much of which I could not predict. The
story is so unique, even if the theme is not, that you can easily
forgive the reality lapses. I'm giving it a 9 out of 10.