Brilliant David Fincher subversive material

Rating: 10/10 (8 November 2001)

Take a great book (by Chuck Palahniuk), adapt it cleverly into a screenplay (by Jim Uhls), hand the whole package over to David Fincher, and what do you get? A dark, twisted, violent, subversive commentary on the disillusionment of the American male at the turn of the century. Just below the surface of a society where the things you own begin to own you, two(?) radicals have started a bold movement called "Fight Club," where the only way to feel alive again is to physically beat and be beaten in an all-out mano-a-mano brawl. Though it could be dismissed by a more squeamish audience as too brutal, the themes in this film will have the rest of us coming back for more. It is surprisingly similar to "American Beauty" in theme, but completely opposite in its delivery. Plus, the last quarter of the film should leave first-time viewers reeling.