User Comments:
72 out of 102 people found the following comment useful:-
a dangerously brilliant film that entertains as well as enlightens., 10 May 2000
Author:
J.D. Lafrance ([email protected]) from St. Catharines, Canada
"Fight Club" an aggressive, confrontational, often brutal
satire that is quite possibly a brilliant masterpiece. Taking
the "Choose life," anti-consumerism rant at the beginning
of "Trainspotting," and carrying it to its logical -- albeit
extreme -- conclusion this is a big budget, mainstream film
that takes a lot of risks by biting the hand that feeds
it.
The film's narrator (Edward Norton) is an insignificant cog
in the drab, corporate machine, dutifully doing his job and
what he's told without question. He's an insomniac slave to
his IKEA possessions and only finds joy in going to as
many self-help/dealing with terminal diseases sessions
as he can. It provides him with an escape from his
sleepless nights. That is, until Marla Singer (Helena
Bonham Carter), a trashy chain-smoking poser, enters his
life and upsets his routine. The narrator also meets Tyler
Durden (Brad Pitt), a charismatic soap salesman whose
straightforward honesty, candor and sleazy lounge-lizard
outfits are a breath of fresh air.
One night, after the two men have bonded over beers, Tyler
asks the narrator to hit him. At first, it seems like an absurd
request but after they pound on each other for a bit, a
strange feeling overcomes them. They feel a kind of
release and satisfaction at inflicting pain on one another. In
a world where people are desensitized to everything
around them, the physical contact of fighting wakes them
up and makes them feel truly alive. Others soon join in and
pretty soon Fight Club becomes an underground
sensation. However, it becomes readily apparent that Tyler
has more elaborate plans than just organizing brawls at
the local bar.
David Fincher has taken the dark, pessimistic worldview of
"Seven" and married it with the clever plot twists and turns
of "The Game" and assembled his strongest effort to date.
"Fight Club" is a $50+ million studio film that remains true
to its anti-consumer, anti-society, anti-everything message
-- right up to the last, sneaky subliminal frame.
What makes "Fight Club" a subversive delight is not only its
refreshing anti-corporate message but how it delivers said
message. As Fincher has explained in interviews, you don't
really watch the film but rather download it. Its structure is
extremely playful as it messes around with linear time to an
incredible degree. The narrative bounces back and forth all
over the place like a novel, or surfing on the Internet -- even
making a hilarious dead stop to draw attention to itself in a
funny, interesting way that completely works. Yet Norton's
deadpanned narration holds everything together and
allows the viewer to get a handle on what's happening.
This is the way films should be made. Why must we
always have to go through the A+B+C formula? "Fight Club"
openly rejects this tired, clearly outdated structure in favour
of a stylized frenzy of jump cuts, freeze frames, slow motion
and every other film technique in the book that only
reinforces its anarchistic message.
A film like this would have never been greenlighted by a
major studio if Brad Pitt had not been attached to the
project. Once you see the film, it becomes obvious that he
was the only choice for Tyler Durden. Like he did with
"Kalifornia" and "Twelve Monkeys", Pitt grunges himself
down and disappears completely into his role to a
frighteningly convincing degree. During many of the brutal
fight scenes, he is transformed into a bloody, pulpy mess
that'll surely have the "Legends of the Fall" fans running for
the exits. It is an incredible performance -- probably his
best -- for the simple fact that he becomes the character so
completely.
If Pitt has the flashy, gonzo role, Edward Norton is his
perfect foil as the seemingly meek yet sardonic narrator. It's
a deceptively understated performance as the last third of
the film reveals but Norton nails it perfectly. He is clearly
our surrogate, our introduction into this strange world and
his wry observations on our consumer-obsessed culture
are right on the money. They are the perfect setup for
Tyler's introduction and his view on the world which is
clearly a call to arms of sorts, a manifesto that rejects the
notion that we are what we own.
And ultimately, that is what "Fight Club" tries to do. The film
is a cinematic punch to the head as it challenges the
status quo and offers a wakeup call to people immersed in
a materialistic world where those who have the most stuff,
"win." I think that Fincher's film wants us to tear all that
down, reject corporate monsters like Starbucks and
Blockbuster, and try to figure out what we really want out of
life. It's almost as if the film is suggesting salvation through
self-destruction. And it is these thought-provoking ideas
that makes "Fight Club" a dangerously brilliant film that
entertains as well as enlightens.
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