A sign of the times

Rating: 8/10 (11 November 1999)

Warning: May contain some spoliers.
I don't know if it is my generation that is more cynical or if it is just that I notice it more because I am part of my generation. Were 20-somethings in the 1930's or the 1950's just as upset and had the same at-the-end-of-their-rope kind of attitude towards life and all that makes it go round? I can't answer those questions because I am both too young to know and I also don't know enough about sociological histories of us as people to make an educated guess. But I can guesstimate rather intelligently that there is a good chance that people weren't quite as cynical as my generation is because there wasn't as much to be bitter and cynical about. I am not saying that people from past generations didn't have stresses and pressures but they certainly didn't have the same things to worry about that we do heading into the new millenium. Credit card abuse and subsequent debt is out of control, banks are bigger and more powerful than they ever have been, the job market is paradoxically increasing and decreasing at a rapid rate, capitalism is still a great thought and concept for those that capitalize on it but it is cumbersome and burdensome for most others, computers are again paradoxically a blessing and then again they may be the anti-Christ. The point is that there are so many new things to worry about now than there were when my parents were growing up. And a movie like Fight Club in some subliminal and metaphoric ways address these issues quietly and then in other ways it is not quiet metaphors that grace the screen but loud in-your-face opinions and facts that bombard you and forces you to ask yourself some tough questions. Movies like Fight Club don't come around too often and that is because not every movie or the people behind it have the intelligence and the audacity to ask such tough questions nor do they the smarts to make an entertaining movie to please the masses that may not want to see a deep film and nothing more. Fight Club is one of the best films to come so far this year and even if it is perhaps 15 minutes too long, I would rather see a film that has too much to say than a film that has nothing to say at all. Fight Club has a lot to say.
Edward Norton and Brad Pitt play two completely opposite characters that are some how attracted to each other, not in the sexual sense of course, but perhaps because they are such opposites, one lives vicariously through the other. For those of you that have see this movie, you will know how true that statement really is, for those of you that haven't seen it, you have to view it for yourself to really comprehend how true that statement really is.
Norton is a bit of a repressed, yet seemingly average society guy that just exists. His world and his life don't really go any further than his office and his apartment and his only form of social engagement is through the television and through self help groups that he begins to attend. He doesn't suffer through any of the symptoms that the groups suffer with but this is his way of expressing himself, his only way of letting go. Pitt plays Tyler Durden, a recluse who prides himself on living hard and living fast and having fun with what he has and laughing at what he doesn't. He is also incredibly charming, ridiculously smart and clever and he is in the best shape that I have seen a guy in that has been in the movies, think of Stallone in Rocky IV but slim him up some and you have Tyler Durden. He also has sex for what seems to be hours at a time and always pleasures the lady that he is with. Norton seems in awe of him and they form some sort of friendship, and that is how Fight Club starts. One night after a few beers they begin to fight after Durden tells Norton to hit him. So he does and they begin this nightly ritual and soon other people come to their underground hush-hush fisticuff display and they too are there to get their anger and frustrations out.
The rules of Fight Club are very strict, and I'm sure by now we have all heard that the first and second rule of Fight Club is to not talk about it. I, as a reviewer, and film lover, like that rule so I will not tell you anymore what the film is really about or what it encompasses and what direction that it goes in. Just know that if you pay attention to what the film is saying, you will get a lot more out of it than a bunch of guys pounding each other to a pulp. This film is very entertaining but moreso it is intelligence personified. It has opinions about our life, our lifestyle, our obsessions, our vices and almost everything that defines the times that we live in. I don't think I have really seen a film like this before and I applaud it for having the guts and the intelligence to challenge it's viewers to think. Sure, there are a lot of bloody and gory scenes in here but they are not really any more shocking than some of the other films that are out there these days. Too much has been made of that small part of the film when what should be told is how this film will make you feel as you leave the theater and how it will stay with you in the days and weeks to come. American Beauty did that to me and even though these are two different films, they have similar things to say but they just took different roads to get to a similar point. And both are two of my favourite films to come out this year. I hope this film does get some recognition at Oscar time, it is that good. Oh yeah, and it has a really neat secret, you thought Sixth Sense was clever in that way, wait until you see this one. It's even better, I think anyway.
In a year that has given us a lot of great films ( Blair Witch, Arlington Road, Instinct, Sixth Sense, American Beauty, Three Kings, American Pie and The Matrix just to name a few ) this is one of the best and it will probably make a lot of critics top ten lists. It has made mine so far and if the race for Oscar goes as it usually does then this film will get lost in the shuffle as most films that want to be remembered at Oscar time get released later in the year. But no matter, this is still one of the best this year and if you have avoided this film because of what you have heard about the violence, then my advice is simple. Ignore all that and go see it for what it has to say. You will walk out of the theater with a new look on what you see around you. But then again, do you want to do that or do you enjoy living in the bubble of naivete that this film claims we do? Think about it.