Film Of The Week #8 - Fight Club

Karl Hungus

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/

Excellent film, a modern classic for director David Fincher. Although I'd personally prefer Se7en, it's still an amazing film.

Discuss.

The Denouncer

I think its slightly over-rated. Though very enjoyable I don't think its the masterpiece many people believe. Still good fun though.

tba

I adore this film, I first went to see it when it came out with a trio of friends and we all had the same positive reaction. I have never come out of the cinema before or since with such an overwhelming sense of satisfaction.

A meaty film that is not so abstract as to muddy the waters of clarity. A hilarious look at serious matters such as death, addiction, depression and monotony. A victorious renewal of life that ensures that letting go is the new holding on.

From the offset it layers on a cinematic style that no doubt lent itself to the CSI series, strong images, punchy commentary and a solid score. We start quite literally in the synapses of the narrator (Edward Norton) and emerge newly into a violent world down the barrel of a gun. But throughout the film we never really leave Norton's mind, it is told through his eyes, his experiences, he is constantly the barometric level we most identify with.

Many will cite this film as being too violent, however it is a story of the emasculation of a generation by societies guidelines, violence is an outlet for these lost children, not an excuse to fight but a reason to not weep.

Some will say it is depressing and uninspired, yet it is about a character who removes all the shackles placed about him and discovers that he is not cast aside, but embraced by those who feel the same way. That sounds like bliss.

Others will say that it breaks the fourth wall with a sledgehammer, but this is primarily a tale told by Norton to you, removing the barrier of film and audience we live this nightmarish rise from the ashes of the narrator and leave the film ourselves rebuilt and wishing to make that journey.

I know you. You're a young guy with clear skin and perfect teeth and the kind of job you're proud to write the alumni association about. You're too young to have fought in any wars and if your parents weren't divorced, then your father was probably never at home. Maybe you really are thinking about some pain-free free-range potluck you went to last weekend or the Earth's depleted O-Zone or the desperate need to stop cruel product testing on animals, but probably not.

If you could be either God's worst enemy or nothing, which would you choose? We're the middle children of history, we have no special purpose or place, and unless we get God's attention, we have no hope of damnation or redemption. Which is worse, hell or nothing? Burn the museums, wipe your ass with the Mona Lisa, this way, at least God will know your name.

- "Fight Club" Internet Spots

qwertplaywert

Fantasic movie, when i saw it, it changed the way i rated movies forever.....that was,till Serenity
Norton is sublime, but hes not the actor people hype him up to be
for me,Pitt absolutly stole the show.......confirmed for me his status as the best A-list actor

bluto63

Wow, great synopsis tba. Not really much else to say about the film. It's my favorite film and I can watch it over and over again without getting bored.

gandalf

This is the film that made Brad Pitt watchable from my pov, hated him in anything before this.

spacecoyote

I didn't really know what to expect of this when i went to see it. It had only just come out in the cinema and I hadn't heard a thing about it. It was one of my favourite cinema experiences. I had little or no expectations and this movie far exceeded what i thought it could be. It was superb!!!

ixoy

Quite possibly the best cinema experience I've ever had as I hadn't too many expectations going in. Coming out, I was practically picking my jaw up off of the floor.

Can't really fault this film in any ways - Norton is one of my fave actors and is excellent here. Brad Pitt confirmed to me that he's not just an A-List pretty boy (he had already been in my good books for "12 Monkeys" and some others).

The storyline was a wonderful two-fingers to the happy consumer crap that most other movies, and media, had fed to us.

It was the directing, the way the story was told, that really sold it to me. So many wonderful touches - picture coming out of frame, the subliminal flashes of Tyler, the "in joke" to the reel change over spot, the CGI walkabout of the modern consumer apartment, etc etc. Much like "Se7en" influenced a lot of crime dramas, Fincher again I think had a huge impact on how a story can be told with a wonderful streak of black humour.

Brilliant movie and one of the best I've ever seen.

projectmayhem

frankly one of my all time favourite movies. stunning piece of cinema that'll be hard beaten in a race to send a message about how grotesque modern society has become.

as mentioned before, this was the movie that made brad pitt watchable to me.

johnny_ultimate

Heh just as mentioned as film of the week we get to do an assignment on this film in college (best assignment ever).
Its a classic. Absolutely hilarious and so many more times intelligent than your average film. Satirical, exciting, clever and a monster twist to boot - what more does one want.