This is the film that set the trend...

Rating: Null/10 (23 March 2000)

This is the film that set the trend followed by the much more viewer friendly 'American Beauty': a rejection of the values which underpin middle class America. Whilst 'American Beauty' succeeds in its aching poignancy and wistful rhetoric, 'Fight Club' assaults the senses with frenetic direction and a much greater adrenaline injection. One thing the two films have in common are stellar performances by the central actors.
Much is always said of Ed Norton, and here he is on fine form as usual. But for me, this is Brad Pitt's film. Looking as though his body has been carved out of stone, it is he who fills the screen with something which resembles charisma, but verges more on animal magnetism.
The imagery of emasculation is very clever. And the anti-society message is forced home by Fincher's most stylish, and yes, his best, movie to date. 'Fight Club' is much more stark than 'American Beauty'. It does not seek to find the beauty in living, but seeks to tell us that one day we are going to die, and that only by destroying ourselves can we ever hope to make something better.
Perhaps where the film suffers is by its establishment of a concept which cannot be given any satisfactory conclusion. The film itself loses itself towards the end. But this reflects the film's message, and is unavoidable.
Such minor criticisms aside, 'Fight Club' is a film good to see at least twice, for reasons that will become obvious once it has been seen once. It actually seems, in my experience, to be the most re-watched film at the cinema I can remember, with countless people returning for a second, third, and even fourth watch. And it is the only film I know of which is actually a significant improvement upon the book it is based on.
Go and see it.