Fantastic build up, empty ending

Rating: 8/10 (5 March 2001)

In terms of pop culture, this might be the edgiest movie I've ever seen widely released. David Fincher continues his remarkable trend of engrossing movies that delve into what our culture is really like. The movie begins with the Narrator (Edward Norton) tied up in a building with a bomb. The majority of the movie explains how Norton came to this situation. He begins with a flashback, describing his depression., the sense of a lack of something he cannot define. That all changes when he meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). Norton begins to feel something when Pitt eggs him on to "Punch me." Eventually they start fighting on a regular basis. Norton finds that his aggression rids him of the emptiness left by pop culture. The decent into more and more violence continues until Norton utters the chilling line, "I wanted to destroy something beautiful." At this point Fincher has mined the emotional content of the fight club. Later the club becomes more like an army, as it struggles to fight those companies it disagrees with. This sets up the climax of the film, ending Norton's flashback.
The greatest strength of the film is this build up. Norton's character begins his narration explaining that he was looking for the perfect bedroom set to give him happiness. It takes the fight club to show him that his happiness is not dependent on his possessions. The film explores the insidious nature of companies that sell their wholesomeness as their main product. It's a lifestyle you are buying, something to help you escape your own existence for a moment. The fight club goes against all that. Rather than take on easy targets like corrupt oil firms or banks, "Fight Club" attacks those companies America embraces. And the way "Fight Club" shows to fight the effects contains a dark edge.
However, at the end, David Fincher tries to bite off too much and ends up with a hollow ending. The dark humor and pointed insights that occur throughout the film, the edgy look at an oppressive world, all fade at the end of the film. I don't think I have ever been so disappointed with a film's ending. He said so much that was so remarkably pointed in the film, but then wrapped up the plot with a completely implausible ending. Because of this flaw, I drop an obvious masterpiece down to a 7. Above average, but haunted by the terrific letdown that is the end of the film.