An under appreciated masterpiece.

Rating: 9/10 (9 June 2002)

An interesting adaptation from the book. Both are good, but don't see one without reading the other. What Fight Club so intelligently and refreshingly acknowledges about being a young man in today's world more than makes up for the movies' shortcomings. Let's face it: we're all mortgaging the happiness of our souls by working jobs we don't really like. We do this in exchange for the opportunity buy crap we hope will self express ourselves and makes us feel unique...just like everyone else. The vicious cycle is causing us more harm than any of us want to admit. We're are too afraid to break it, so we carry on and continue our search for whatever coping mechanisms help us deal with it. Then along came Fight Club. For the first time (as far as I know) somebody found a novel way to talk about it. And overcoming the fear of fist fighting with total strangers couldn't be more brilliant as the ultimate coping mechanism.
My biggest complaint about this movie was that it was too stylized - so much so that I couldn't help but think some might accuse its anti-consumerism rants of being somewhat hypocritical. Sure Brad Pitt looked like a dirty scum bag, but that was a carefully contrived "scum style" you were looking at.
Notwithstanding those subtle dashes of Hollywood that, to me, seemed to sober the movies' message, both Brad Pitt and Ed Norton gave fantastic, believable performances. They helped make this story, this idea, a highly authentic experience. I am actually quite surprised this movie didn't create more buzz when it was in theatres. I can see the back half of the movie might have been where many people started to lose interest (I admit it weakens as the whole Project Mayhem stuff unfolds), but that first sixty minutes is all you really need to see as far as I'm concerned. The power of that piece alone leads me to believe that Fight Club is one seriously under appreciated movie. I think its legacy will start to shine the more we reflect on what it had to say. Give it a second try, and give it time.