Young men getting angry at consumerist society?

Rating: 7/10 (22 November 1999)

This is an interesting film - the violence appears more a side issue to the really acid take "Fight Club" has on society. Then again, the violence is why quite a few people went to see it. If they went for straight out gore though, the hopefully left considering more interesting issues.
I thoroughly disagree with those who state this is an irresponsible pion to Nazism... heavy-handed, sure (black shirts and soap) but, I don't see why it was particularly at fault: after all it drips cynicism and just cannot be read as a straight ahead film. I don't think it was saying men are defined only by aggression, rather that - men can easily be defined only by aggression. I particularly liked the creeping madness infecting the men of America - the idea of a surreal, out of control secret society. The lead two, Pitt and Norton, are great... unhinged, and repressed respectively.
Helena Bonham-Carter is actually really good too(in a fairly slight role) as a rather dysfunctional love interest. I thought it quite a thoughtful film (if you reference Emerson, you automatically get a brownie point from me!) The incredibly eye-catching/hyper real visuals added to a sense of subverted reality. It does rather seem to be a film of two (long!) halves - the first rather more spiteful and sharp, the second violent and surreal.