A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on with underground fight clubs forming in every town until an eccentric gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.
Review
"Fight Club" an aggressive confrontational often brutal satire that is quite possibly a brilliant masterpiece. Taking the "Choose life" anticonsumerism 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 films narrator (Edward Norton) is an insignificant cog in the drab corporate machine dutifully doing his job and what hes told without question. Hes an insomniac slave to his IKEA possessions and only finds joy in going to as many selfhelpdealing 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 chainsmoking 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 loungelizard 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 anticonsumer antisociety antieverything message right up to the last sneaky subliminal frame. What makes "Fight Club" a subversive delight is not only its refreshing anticorporate message but how it delivers said message. As Fincher has explained in interviews you dont 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 Nortons deadpanned narration holds everything together and allows the viewer to get a handle on whats happening. This is the way films should be made. Why must we always have to go through the ABC 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 thatll 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. Its 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 consumerobsessed culture are right on the money. They are the perfect setup for Tylers 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 Finchers 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. Its almost as if the film is suggesting salvation through selfdestruction. And it is these thoughtprovoking ideas that makes "Fight Club" a dangerously brilliant film that entertains as well as enlightens.