Fundamentally good, but ultimately flawed - MILD SPOILERS

Rating: Null/10 (29 November 1999)

Along with many in the UK, I had been led to believe that this was primarily a film about people beating each other to a pulp for a laugh. Anyone who has seen it will know that there is much more to the film than this. However, this is the only positive twist associated with this movie.
I write this without having read the book or knowing when the book was written, so I will hold back with any possibly misinformed comments about originality. I do think that this film covers very similar ground to Brett Easton Ellis's American Psycho, where the main protagonist either has to re-assert his primeval masculinity to feel alive, or at least fantasise that he is doing so. There are no clear answers in either work as to which of these is happening. It is certainly an interesting concept in our cosseted Western world; I doubt that this theme would be as relevant to the billions of people who still do have to search for food on a daily basis.
The descent into darkness is done intelligently and credibly and I am sure that many of us who have seen this genuinely felt that they too might feel more alive for being a member of a 'Fight Club'. However (and here's where my ignorance of the book lets me down again) I left with the impression that the makers were short of a whole film once they had made their central point so admirably. The much-vaunted twist does not hold water when the rest of the film is viewed retroactivally and the work is left looking like a vehicle for an oh-so-surprising plot quirk.
My feeling is that the moviegoer's reaction to the film will hinge on their reaction to the twist. I did not enjoy and it has clouded my view of the film as a whole. That aside, there is still much to commend this film, especially that graphic violence is used so intelligently and sparingly. I for one will be fascinated to see what clear ground this will leave for next year's adaptation of American Psycho, the central arguments of that book having been made so clearly and coherently here.