A Movie About Ideas

Rating: 10/10 (3 September 2000)

This is a movie about ideas - class and generational conflicts foremost among them. This film should make you think about how our society depends on consumers spending money on useless junk to keep the corporate world and the upper class it supports intact. My generation (boomers) spent the first 40 years of its existence under the thumb of the WWII generation before it. Now the boomers are in control and it would appear the only lessons we learned were how to keep the next generation enslaved more effectively. There are plenty of other ideas in "Fight Club" but these stood out in my mind. There's violence too - one of the grossest scenes I've ever seen was Tyler deliberately egging Lou (owner of "Lou's") on as a way to establish himself as 'God' of Fight Club. On the other hand, the narrator beating himself to a pulp in his boss' office is one of the funniest scenes in recent movies. Every year Hollywood issues dozens of movies where bullets are flying every 10 minutes, bodies stack up like firewood, and blood and human tissue spatter the screen almost continuously. "Fight Club" has none of that - its too busy being original, pumping out intelligent observations, and raising questions with its audience. The answers it gives are not the answers we (or society) can live with, so the solutions must come from somewhere else - maybe we're being asked to think for ourselves? The writers, director, and creative persons who put "Fight Club" together certainly did plenty of that. I'm truly amazed that Fox stood behind this film, didn't change it to something commerically acceptable, and went on to issue a world class DVD. I believe they will be rewarded. Twenty years from now when such pale entertainments such as "Green Mile" and "American Beauty" are all but forgotten, people will still be watching and talking about "Fight Club"	The fact that so many people contributing to these comments feel that "Fight Club" is either the best or the worst picture of 1999 says a lot about it. The first time I saw it, I was overwhelmed with 'too much information' and just thought it was OK. Went back three days later and liked it more. Now that I've seen the DVD a few times, I consider it one of the best movies ever made. Jim Uhls's screenplay from Chuck Palahniuk's novel is brilliant. Ed Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helena Bonham Carter give performances that are at least the equal of anything they've done previously in their talented and remarkable careers. And you've never seen Meatloaf like this before and you'll never see him in quite the same way again. Director David Fincher (with considerable help, no doubt) has made a movie that never lets ups in its artistry or craftmanship. Excellence is evident in every detail of every frame. Each time you watch it, there's more to see and think about.	1999 will long be remembered for its original, inventive, and intelligent films coming from the long criticized studio system. Besides "Fight Club" there was "Being John Malkovich", "The Matrix", and "Three Kings". Let's not forget "Blair Witch", "Sixth Sense", "South Park", and "Tarzan". Throw in "Eyes Wide Shut" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and I'm running out of room for "American Beauty" to even make my top ten. Why waste time on that when "Fight Club" does it so much better?