It's a mad world...

Rating: 9/10 (4 February 2006)

Fight Club (1999)
Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter, Jared Leto, Meat Loaf, Zach Grenier.
Directed by David Fincher.
Spoilers herein.
I admit, when I first rented Fight Club about two years ago, I was pretty disappointed. But the reason I probably was is because it was a very different film that I had seen from others. Friends had recommended it to me saying that I would either love or hate it, but I found myself stuck in the middle. Considering that it had a high rating on the IMDb's Top 250 movies, and all of the hype that was surrounding it, I knew that I had to see it.
One of the things that I didn't care for in Fight Club the first time I saw it was that I missed most of the satire and black-comedy behind the violence. However, the whole movie did have an interesting yet strange feel to it. About a year ago, I re-watched the film to see if I would find anything different about it. While watching it, I liked it much more than I did the second time. I caught more of the black humor, and it was hypnotically entertaining.
The story begins with an executive (Edward Norton, playing a character without a name 'Narrator') whose bored with his life and can't sleep during the nights. He begins going to testicular cancer groups so it would make him feel better, but he can't sleep while a lady who fakes her cancer (Helena Bonham Carter playing Marla Singer) remains at the group. After his condo explodes, he is taken in by a mysterious soap salesman (Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden) who shows him a bizarre form of therapy which they call the "Fight Club".
'Fight Club' isn't an easy movie to talk about, write about or forget about. It works in such brilliant ways that other films don't, and in the end the movie works on almost every level. In the sense of storytelling, it definitely succeeds. It was probably the most talked about movie of 1999, and there was much to say about it.
One could say that 'Fight Club' is laughably over-the-top, or to say that the film itself doesn't make sense. I began to think that until it all caught up with me in the end. I will not give any spoilers why it did, but I wasn't really expecting a surprise. It could be compared to the bizarre style of films like Stanley Kubrick's 'Clockwork Orange', Oliver Stone's 'Natural Born Killers' and Terry Gilliam's 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'. But there's so much chemistry and psychological attitude put to this movie that you may not be able to "get" it the first time around. It's a social satire that has almost everything I'd look for in one.
I can't really say that I thought this was directed David Fincher's best film (I enjoyed Se7en (1995) more), but this definitely makes a case as his most visual and daring film. He gives a great direction once again, gives the whole movie a very vivid feel.
One of the only bad things that I can actually say about this film is some of the very strong violence (one scene in particular involving Norton and Jared Leto's character fighting) and a lot of people might think that it would lead to a pointless ending and the average viewer would be left with a negative message. But that isn't the way that it's supposed to end. You really do have to think beyond the movie, no matter how much it doesn't seem real.
Since I loved Edward Norton's performance in 'American History X', he once again gives a great performance and background narration. Brad Pitt gives possibly his best performance to date, and the supporting roles are also good.
The violence is probably the most controversial part of the movie. While I didn't find it too extreme, I thought that others who hadn't seen it should be aware of it. I found a lot of Fight Club quite amusing and funny, but it does get more effective toward the end. The anti-socialism in the film isn't told in a mean-spirited or hated way, the people fighting each other to released energy and power out on one another. But after its all over, you begin to realize how scary the film really is, and apocalyptic it would be in real-life. But the film is still humorous and isn't meant to be as serious as it is.
I never read the book with the same title by Chuck Palahnuik, but after seeing the movie I am interested in reading it. Definitely one of the best films of 1999 along with 'American Beauty' and 'Magnolia'. To sum it all up, 'Fight Club' is one of the best viewing experiences I've ever had in my life, and one of the rare films that kept me entertained on several repeated viewings. It's a riveting, dazzling and completely original story that didn't leave my mind for a while. 4.5 out of 5 stars.