One of the seminal films of the 90's

Rating: 10/10 (29 September 2010)

David Fincher is one of the best directors in Hollywood today. This is his finest film.
Based on the best selling book of the same name, the movie starts with the narrator,Edward Norton initially a nameless, boring drone leading a shallow, meaningless life as just another cog in the great corporate wheel. He spends his time buying sofa-sets and basically indulging in the huge facade that is today's materialistic and fake society. As he puts it: "We used to read pornography, now it's the 'Horchow Collection'."But he isn't satisfied with his life. There's always this nagging feeling, deep-down, a hint of discontent. This manifests into his psyche and he becomes an insomniac. Seeking medication, he discovers therapy groups, and there, on the pretext of a terminal disease or an addiction, he cries. He doesn't really know why he crying. Maybe its about the hollowness, and the utter futility of it all. This daily discharge helps him sleep. Until, that is, chain-smoking, messed-up Marla Singer starts coming to his therapy sessions for a similar purpose. Seeing another 'tourist' there bursts the happy he finds himself in and insomnia creeps back into his life. Then he meets Tyler Durdan and he's drawn, like everyone else, to his magnetic personality. One night, on a whim, Tyler asks the narrator to hit him. He complies, and thus begins fight club. Fight club transformed into a nocturnal activity in a basement where men shed the inhibitions laid down by society, and release themselves. That's all that I'm going to reveal here.
But let's talk about Tyler Durdan. For it's not possible to talk about fight club and not talk about Tyler Durdan, a character who was recently named the greatest movie character of all time by a magazine, beating out competition from the likes of Darth Vader, Hannibal Lecter, The Joker, John Rambo etc. Brad Pitt outdoes himself in portraying just about the best example of an alpha-male you'll ever see. Tyler epitomises the saying about Bond ("Man want to be him, Women want to sleep with him") more than any Bond. The rugged Daniel Craig, the cool suave and sophisticated Brosnan and Connery all fall flat in front of his sheer charisma. His laid-back, casual attitude tells of a man who has not a care in his life. The conviction with which speaks tells of a man who's got it all figured out. His radical thoughts and ideas tell of a fearless man, not afraid to go against society. And the small, condescending smile he occasionally afforded the narrator tells of a man who knows just how superior he is to everyone. Tyler Durdan acts the saviour of the society's repressed men and frees them from its clutches. Edward Norton too, does a brilliant job as the narrator, and his boring drawl as a narrative paradoxically draws you further in the movie. The narrator the quintessential modern man trying to find meaning who is swayed by forceful personality. The dialogues are smart and some of the lines have now achieved cult status and are often quoted to each other by today's hippys. The cinematography is completely in sync with the somewhat non-linear storyline and is so good that it somehow distracts most watching it for the first time (including me) from a very obvious truth which makes you feel really stupid afterwards. Because of this, Fight Club, has, for most of the stupid audience (which constitutes an incredibly large number of us) and also the ones who think they're too smart (the rest of us), a huge twist that leaves you gasping, adding to its excellent plot.
In addition to the twist, the plot aptly puts a mirror to society. While the anti-consumerism propagated has been aptly covered by most reviewers, something that they missed was the movie showing how fickle and susceptible to propaganda the human population is, and who easily they get swayed in search of meaning.
The film does tickle the fancies of many, despite the film's anarchistic messages being tempered down with wry humour. Fight club preaches about evolving beyond the endless pursuit of perfection by today's superficial society. Fight Club is about showing on your face what other people hide in their closets. Fight Club is about exposing the dirty underbelly that every household inevitably has. But it also preaches against taking its own ideas too extremely. But above all, it entertains. It is more than two hours of intense entertainment. For all those who haven't seen Fight Club, go watch it right now! 9/10