Life changing film.

Rating: 10/10 (11 October 2015)

Horrible movie poster by the way. Seriously, it doesn't even look like he's holding the bar of soap.
WATCH THIS MOVIE RIGHT NOW BEFORE READING THIS REVIEW.
I knew nothing about Fight Club going in. I'd seen three other Fincher films before this one (this is very different from his other films). I thought it was going to be about a guy in some sort of gang who wants to leave but can't because he'll be killed or something. I was sorta right. Not really. Fight Club is about a guy named Edward Norton who starts a fight club that gets out of hand or about a guy trying to figure out who he is and what his purpose is in life or about a guy with multiple personality disorder. Maybe, all three. It was filmed in 1999 by David Fincher. Apparently, it's based off a 1996 novel of the same name. I'm actually okay with having watched the movie first because I bet it was better than the novel.
Edward is a super likable character. Not only do you really care about him but also about his very relatable feelings of unimportance. But the one thing that makes him the most likable is his voice overs. Voice overs make movies so much more fun to watch and really let you understand how the character thinks and observes things. Shawshank and American Psycho are the two best examples I can think of right now. I just realized all those films are based on novels. That's what books have always had over movies. You are in the character's head seeing things through their eyes. You end up bonding with the main character more and you care much more about what happens to them. Voice overs are a great way to bring this aspect into film.
I loved how natural the fight club was. If an idiot made this film, the fight club would have been formed in the first ten minutes because of a random sequence of consequential events. Instead, every thing slowly ends up happening. A bunch of small choices and moments led to the fight club being formed. Edward's personality shows why a guy like him would start such a club and because of this everything that happens in the movie feels natural and not forced to make the movie more suspenseful or fun. In Gravity, everything bad that could ever happen ends up happening to Sandra Bullock. This is a cheap and lazy way to keep the movie interesting. Everything in Fight Club just feels more real and it's much harder to not be sucked into the film.
It's great that they put the enjoyment of the movie before it's meaning. I felt that instead of shoving a bunch of symbolism and philosophical questions down your throat (looking at you Matrix), it makes sure the movie stays fun and interesting and treats it's meaning like icing on a wonderful cake. Not saying that the film's meaning isn't important but enjoyability should come first. I'm sure I can't be the only one who noticed but it really felt like fight club was a lot like self harm. Literally and metaphorically. They are hurting themselves with intense pain to make everything else more numb. Or smaller things like when in the restaurant, Edward gets offered a smoke and he says he doesn't smoke. Two or three scenes later he's smoking while walking down the street.
10/10 -- Masterpiece.I really can't think of anything wrong with this movie and everyone should watch it at least once. I might have to start watching all of Fincher's other movies and make a best to worst list. Also, the close up scenes were the coolest and I won't forget to mention the awesome Tyler Durden job scene.
P.S. I know I didn't mention Tyler Durden. It didn't feel appropriate since they are both the same person.
Go to http://bryansfilmreviews.blogspot.com/ for more reviews.