go in with an open mind.

Rating: Null/10 (3 March 2000)

fight club is a shockingly accurate commentary on our times. it addresses the issues of frustration and discontent with society and the guidelines society imposes on us in regards to what constitutes "success." the film is not about a group of men who see violence as "their way to get back into society," as one reviewer previously stated. on the contrary, these men see their fight club as a way to _withdraw from_ traditional society and, in effect, find out what is necessary to them. by giving up material possessions and living life outside traditional society, narrator and his comrades come to find out what ideals and principles are _really_ important and necessary in their lives. in its second half, FC has been likened to several things, most notably Stanley Kubrick's 1971 masterpiece, "A Clockwork Orange." certainly parallels can be drawn between the two movies; clearly Clockwork's futuristic society of "ultra-violence" is eerily similar to FC's modern society. both tyler and his fight club, and alex and his droogs display characteristically anti-social behavior which often manifests itself through violence and the treatment of women as objects. the violence and objectification can be justified because they are certainly elemental to the character development of the droogs/FC members. aside from the obvious similarities to Clockwork, i think that a number of parallels can be drawn between FC and William Golding's "Lord of the Flies." the basic situation in both "Flies" and FC is a group of people who "create their own society," with their own rules, heirarchies and power structures. both societies are created out of some necessity: in "Flies," it is necessity of basic survival on a deserted island, in FC the necessity is finding a way to re-frame life experiences and re-define the concept of being successful (i.e. the idea that success is defined by a feeling of self-worth, no matter how it is obtained, by living life exactly as you want to, rather than by the amount of material posessions you own or by being "socially acceptable." in short, it is about learning to see life in a different way.). in FC, as in "Flies," we witness the gradual, yet inevitable decline of both societies, and the loss of control by both leaders (ralph and narrator, respectively). however, in FC, the basic concept (changing a person's views on life) survives though the social sub-structure deteriorates. in my opinion, all three of these works (Clockwork, Lord of the Flies and FC) are brilliant commentaries on our time. knowing this, we must also realize that none of these works can simply be taken at face value. to the viewer who does this, they will appear to be extremely violent stories with no redeeming moral value. if this is what you think about fight club, you don't understand it.
reviewer Lorenzo Hernandez stated that he was surprised by the number of female fans of this movie due to its portrayal of women. i do not understand why this is surprising. women are certainly capable of recognizing a wonderful, well-written, brilliantly directed movie regardless of whether or not they agree with the film's message. fight club is unequivocally one of the best movies released this year. the fact that parts of it may shock or disturb some viewers does not negate its merit as a great film.