"The first rule of Fight Club is you do
not talk about Fight Club"
I will go ahead and break the rule and simply
talk about Fight Club; the 1999 film that I recently added to my favorite movie
list. In my opinion this is one of Fincher`s masterpieces along with Se7en.
David Fincher has made some great films, but none have ever rivaled his work in
the 90`s with these two films. Both Se7en and Fight Club are among my favorite
films and consider them superior to Fincher`s other great recent films like
Zodiac, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network, and The Girl
With the Dragon Tattoo. Fight Club is an extremely violent film, but I don’t think
it`s gratuitous because the movie really works as a satire and raises several philosophical
questions about how enslaved we`ve become under the capitalist and advertising
system, but it also points out the danger of anarchy as well. We`ve become
materialist beings finding our purpose in our possessions and have left out the
spiritual part. Sometimes we need to feel pain to remind ourselves that we are
alive, and in a way this film works as a highly crafted metaphor. I loved the
way the story was presented and how this surrealistic film worked. Based on
Chuck Palahniuk`s novel of the same name, and adapted for the screen by Jim
Uhls, Fight Club is a masterpiece thanks to Fincher`s direction and the performance
from the excellent cast which includes Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helen
Bonham Carter. I really loved this movie from beginning to end, including the
twist in the final act. 1999 was the year of great twists considering this is
when The Sixth Sense was released as well (my all time favorite film). Fight
Club is a must see film for all.
The movie begins with a scene where the
narrator (Edward Norton) has a gun forced down his throat by Tyler Durden (Brad
Pitt), to which the narrator begins to tell the viewer what has led him to this
point through voice over narration, and so the film is told in flashback. He
takes us back to the days when he was an office worker who experienced severe
insomniac problems. The doctor recommended that he visit a support group with
men who have suffered from testicular cancer in order for him to really see the
pain other people have gone through. Despite not suffering from this condition,
the narrator decides to do so and discovers that going to these therapies
allows him to finally being able to sleep for the first time in months. After
this, he decides to attend a different support group every night and everything
seems to go well, until he discovers a manic depressive woman named Marla
Singer (Helena Bonham Carter) who is doing the same thing he`s been doing:
jumping from one support group to another. Seeing her as an intruder and a
liar, the narrator can no longer find peace in the support groups and so his
insomniac problems begin again. His life will change dramatically when he meets
Tyler Durden, a soap maker, in an airplane and has an interesting conversation
with him. They exchange numbers and when the narrator arrives home from the
airport he discovers his condo has been blown up. He then decides to call Tyler
and ends up moving in with him at an old abandoned complex. The two start a
very different support group which they call Fight Club since they have to
fight one another. The movement becomes popular and little by little they begin
to form a revolutionary movement known as Project Mayhem, but things begin to
escalate too fast and dangerously.
Edward Norton appeared in the big movie screen
during the 90`s and this was when he made his best films (American History X,
Primal Fear, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Rounders, and Fight Club), although I
would have to argue that his best performances were in American History X and
The 25th Hour. However he is still excellent in this film as well.
Brad Pitt is at his best playing the sort of chaotic and anarchic character who
in some ways is similar to the narrator, but in others very different and more
dangerous. He has a strong pull on Norton`s character and influences him
deeply. Helena Bonham Carter also plays one of her best roles as this sort of manic-depressive
character who stands her own ground in this mostly male dominated film. The
performance from the cast is one of the best things about Fight Club which
works in every level. The visuals and special effects are also fantastic. It is
a dark film with a lot of violence mixed with satire that had me laughing quite
a bit. I absolutely loved this movie and the ending was just brilliant.
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