Rule Number One

Rating: 8/10 (24 November 2019)

Most critics claim, and I agree, that modern American psychological film started in 1999 with David Fincher's Fight Club. Prior to this, artistic visualizations of the psyche and man's place on the earth were left to the realms of science fiction or simply inaccessible to mass audiences. Fight Club delivers the story of a nameless narrator (Edward Norton) whose dronesome existence has left him hollow, only finding meaning by frequenting a multitude of inapplicable support groups. What begins as a look through the window into the soul of the modern man, crashes into a tale of revolution against everything normal.
Fight Club finds its feet early on through the fantastic characters played by Edward Norton and Brad Pitt. The duo is dynamic, clashing in their personalities but similar in their goals. Additionally, Fight Club offers a tantalizing pace that whizzes between bare knuckle boking bouts, near head on car crashes, and plots to take over the city. Everything about this work screams "don't look away for a second or you might miss the whole thing."
20 years later, Fincher's Fight Club remains the hallmark beacon of exemplary editing, carefully crafted story-telling, and powerful plot twist. Is urges the audience to question the filmmakers' motives in every shot. Knowing the story's surprise ending does not spoil the fun, but breathes new life into the story, allowing you to savor each frame anew.