Fascinating piece

Rating: 9/10 (12 September 2010)

It is quite rare thing that movie may be better than the book it is based on. And Fight Club actually is. I have watched it many times, the shrill still there, while the book gathers dust on a shelf.
I read the book in English and in Russian (BTW the translation, at least the one I got in hand, sucks). By its sctucture it is very easy to be turned into a script exactly like it should be POV the narrator; OTOH it's not rich with descriptions, visuals are rather scanty. So I think the director and the cast did a perfect job to make movie pretty close to the book in pace, action and picture, giving the story greater power and subtlety by the means of cinematography; with one caveat - the ending. I know many people like the film ending and Palanniuk himself was quoted to prefer it. But it really doesn't make sense to me and makes the story more surreal and more shallow than one might digest.
The acting is superb. Both Pitt and Norton are at their best and though I am not much into Helena Bonham Carter, she is amazing as Marla. Supporting characters are all well done, too. I also always love change of color scheme into sepia once we get into the Paper street world. Many things like that, you just must see it. It's an excellent film that will blow your mind anyway.
That said, I am far from thinking this movie (and the book whatever) to be anything of a message. It is indeed thought-provoking but it actually doesn't offer a solution, nor a hint. Quite contrary it shows how much more preferrable the existing system would be comparing to the offered ways to get up at it. This rebellion without a cause, within the system, against its most obscure and superficial features is just a childish tantrum. That will pass and that is sad. BTW I would really like those many posters who state the movie changed their lives, to specify - how exactly? Oh wait I guess. They must have been purchasing Che Guevara t-shirts. Those do look nice with CK briefs.