An Intruguing Mind Trip

Rating: 7/10 (27 July 2005)

Basic Rundown of My Score-
Sound-8 Visuals-7.5 Plot-7.5 Acting-7.5
Score-7.5
Let me start out by saying Fight Club is neither completely about fighting or Brad Pitt. Keep in mind that this is more of a movie about Norton's character, the Narrator, and his discontentment with an every-day middle-class American lifestyle. Not only does Norton play this character with skill, he provides a mindset most everyone can relate too. The basic plot line in Fight Club (as basic as I can make it) is about a discontented office worker (Norton) who, through strange coincidence, meets Tyler Durden (Pitt), a reckless soap salesman with a strange fascination for explosives and street fights. Norton finds an almost religious escape with the fights, and soon they gather a large following that they deem the Fight Club. Fight Club is appropriately rated "R"-there are some of the most brutal fight scenes in this movie I have ever seen. You'll see more blood on screen here than in most war movies. One scene in particular was highly disturbing, and there are many where men are beat within inches of their life. But therein lies the intriguing part of this movie-the number of people who found a strange euphoric solace in the brutal, merciless atmosphere of the underground fights. There are few personal fights in this movie-and yet the anger that flows from the members of this outlaw club is as real as it gets. The actors with stark realism portray men at the edge of their sanity-needing more relief than any class can provide. So instead of focusing on the fights themselves, Fight Club focuses on the desperation of people in American society. It represents many suppressed desires, fears, and the general curiosity that average people hold. If that was Fight Club's goal, it succeeds. Another area that Fight Club excels in is portraying a dark, desperate atmosphere. Even Tyler Durden's insane antics don't lighten up the mood. You want to laugh at some scenes, yet almost all of the humor in this movie is bitter-sweet. This is kept up from start to finish with amazing pace. You never feel rushed to the next scene, instead the movie flows evenly throughout. Fight Club may not be for everybody, but if you have time to sit down and follow its complex plot, it comes highly recommended from me.