Better than I expected, but no cigar

Rating: 7/10 (11 July 2002)

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT The best aspects of "Fight Club" are the acting by Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, and the skillful cinematographic techniques and direction by David Fincher. Essentially this is a film about a man named Jack (or something) with a split personality played by Norton who meets the manifestation of his second personality in the form of Brad Pitt, who plays a doppelganger type character by the name of Tyler Durden. Unfortunately Fincher saved the revelation that Durden is a manifestation of Jack's troubled mind for the end. It would have been a stronger movie had we seen from the beginning that Durden is not for real. Enough with these O Henry endings in modern film. They were fine in The Crying Game, the Sixth Sense and The Usual Suspects, but here it comes close to sabotaging the film. Watching the film, I could not understand why Jack does not do voluntary work for a charity or mentor a kid or maybe change his job if he feels so alienated. At least join a support group for insomniacs! His character would have been more interesting had I known the extent of his problems from the beginning. The film DID capture how easy it is to form cults, with so many dispirited, alienated people living in our society, and it is unfortunately accurate in displaying the repressed anger felt by many young men. The dialogue is better than what you find in most modern movies too, with several memorable lines. There were individual scenes and performers I liked too. Again, Pitt and Norton give brilliant performances. So I would give it three and a half stars our of five. Also, anyone who shoots himself in the mouth and survives probably would not have the physically ability to talk, let alone have the willingness to do anything except scream or at least moan uncontrollably. I don't care how much pain you learn to endure from pouring lye on yourself.