Stylish and fun throughout, but emotionally uninvolving.

Rating: 8/10 (28 September 2008)

Fight Club has gained a huge fan base, now making it in the Top 30 films of all time according to Internet Movie Database users. I disagree with that, but this was still one of the best looking movies I've ever seen. Never has violence been so elaborately shot and planned out.
The Narrator (Edward Norton) is a soap salesman who also happens to be an insomniac. He never gets sleep and because of this, he's always in a dream like state. He begins going to meetings for various problems, including testicular cancer and tuberculosis which gives him a gratified feeling which makes him feel better and in turn get more sleep. His sleeping stops when Marla (Helena Bonham Carter) starts going to the meetings despite that she has no problems and no reason to be there. He grows a crush on her. The Narrator later meets Tyler (Brad Pitt) who tells him about a way to get anger out, Fight Club, where men come and fight, not to hurt each other, but to get their rage out. Things get out of control as Tyler does.
The direction here is really great. Extremely stylized fighting scenes that are both painful and real, and a mixture of computer animated effects that fit in perfectly. Brad Pitt and Edward Norton are excellent leads and play off each other. Neither really shines over the other, the both give memorable performances. The music, though nothing too great to listen to separately, works fine here. It mostly consists of techno dance style music.
I didn't find this movie very emotional at all. It wasn't style over substance, because their was a lot of substance to go along with the unique style, but the characters, who were likable, were not particularly emotionally involving. If something happened to them, I'd miss the actors presence over the character themselves.
This is a very stylish film with as much gruesome violence as it has brains. A lack of a large heart brings it down a notch, but even with that, this isn't completely heartless, and it's great to watch.
My rating: *** out of ****. 140 mins. R for violence, language and sexuality.