FANTASTIC

Rating: 10/10 (13 December 1999)

To be honest, the initial reason why I wanted to see Fight Club was solely because I am a die-hard Edward Norton fan. I had no idea what to expect from it but I am not a fan of action movies and i had stupidly pegged this movie as just that. Thank GOD I saw it anyway!!!
First off, I have to say that this was perhaps Edward Norton's best performance to date. He was stunning and got more quality screen time in Fight Club than he has had in others, despite being called a "narcisstic dilettante" by the director of American History X due to his alleged destruction of the movie to fit in more scenes of himself.
But to be fair, this was also Brad Pitt's movie, and deservedly so. He shone in his role of Tyler Durden. Admittedly, I am very much NOT a fan of Brad Pitt but I will give him his due. This was his role,and this is the kind of role he should stick to. Hopefully, he will now realise that he wasn't born to play romantic heroes, but anti-hero protagonists (if that's what you could call Tyler Durden).
Direction was also excellent. Dark and startlingly atmospheric. I thought that the darkness was beautifully used. My major problem with Fincher's other major box-office success, "Seven" was it's darkness. I thought that much of it's atmosphere got lost in it. However it seems Fincher has most certainly perfected the art of darkness in Fight Club (it truly is an art).
The storyline is consistently intriguing, and bitingly funny, despite it's blackness (and I mean the stinking- neverending-pits-of-Hell sort of blackness). I caught myself a thousand times laughing and grimacing at the same time. The hilarious humour, coupled with some of the most quotable dialogue and monologue in movie history, makes this certainly the best written screenplay of the nineties, if not the century.
So, hopefully, we will see the name "Fight Club" and many of the names assoiated with it pop up again with the Oscar nominations (fingers crossed for Edward Norton people. Third time's the charm).
If you have yet to see this movie, then SEE IT. Because it is most certainly movie of the year, and ranking as one of the top films of the nineties. Destined to follow in the footsteps of The Shawshank Redemption as not fully appreciated until video release.