Fight Club
(1999)











Rated: R
Runtime: 2 Hours and 19 Minutes


Reviewer: Jones
Grade: B

I am Jack's vast sense of.........approval???

To say "Fight Club" is like a fine wine is something of an overstatement. But it does indeed get better with each viewing. The first time I saw it was in the theater. After that viewing, I felt like I had pretty much wasted a couple hours of my life. Fast forward seven months to the here and now.

For whatever reason I decided to order the damn thing on DVD. I suppose I was intrigued by seeing it again since, when I saw it the first time, I was predisposed to hating it. Don't ask me why, because I don't know. Plus the DVD is loaded with a ton of extra features and there were parts of the movie that I did enjoy the first time around.

So what took this once disavowed and despised film from the depths of despair to a film that I watched two times the first day I owned it? That my friends, is the intent of this review.
"Fight Club" is the story of a man who is on his way to hitting rock bottom. Edward Norton plays the man who can seemingly no longer see the light. He works for a major automotive manufacturer in the field of recalls. He's the guy who decides whether, or not to recall a vehicle if there is a safety issue. Needless to say, it's a rather thankless job, but somebody's gotta do it. He chooses to escape from this life by buying whatever sorts of consumer goods he feels define himself as a person. Fortunately for us moviegoers, this is not enough to sate his desire for belonging.

His first outlet is a multitude of support groups. This segment of the film is wickedly entertaining. He goes to support groups such as testicular cancer and tuberculosis, as well as everything in between. Everything is going great until one day, the woman he later would refer to as a "tumor" arrives.

Marla (Helena Bonham-Carter) is a "tourist." A person who simply goes to the meetings out of some sick desire to belong rather than because she has some sort of affliction. Sounds like a certain someone else we know, doesn't it. Well that certain someone else takes exception to her presence and decides to let her know about it.

They manage to come to some sort of agreement and go their separate ways. This is where Norton meets a soap salesman by the name of Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). Tyler is the sort of man who says what he is thinking and does as he wishes.

After our friend's apartment goes up in a ball of flame, he calls on Tyler for assistance. It is on this night that, what would come to be known as Fight Club, was born. It starts out as a few guys on Saturday nights kicking the shit out of each other and evolves into a sprawling operation with many franchises nationwide.

Fight Club is the new support group fix for Norton, but as time goes by it turns out that Fight Club has a much larger purpose than he ever could have envisioned.

Like I said before. I don't know what turned me off to this film in the first place. The opening half hour is sensational. Then the film kinda meanders along it's merry way for the next ninety minutes taking you wherever it pleases. I must say that as I watch this movie I find myself not really caring about what direction it is going in, yet I still enjoy practically every step of the journey.

It has quite a dark sense of humor, which I enjoy immensely. As I have already said, the opening half hour is wonderful. It is wonderful, because of it's tongue-in-cheek nature. The laughs are nonstop throughout this sequence, which is a joy to behold. The scene where Edward Norton beats the shit out of himself is one of those scenes that you find yourself laughing at, even when you are thinking about it at work the next day. Watch the movie and you'll understand.

I have a few minor problems with this film that aren't worth delving into. My one major problem with this film is the end. This is another one of those increasingly popular "twist" movies. The twist, after you watch the film a couple of times, actually makes sense for the most part. That is, with the exception of the final scene. I won't get into it for fear of ruining the movie, but when you see it you will invariably find yourself shaking your head. I understand that the film needed some form of closure, but what was decided on was downright foolish and idiotic. It seems as if director David Fincher decided to stupify his movie by taking it from the level of an educated filmgoer to that of an eight year old (no offense to you eight year olds out there). Once again. Watch the movie. I am confident you will come to the same conclusion.

Despite it's shortcomings, "Fight Club" somehow finds a way to be interesting, crude, thought-provoking, and humorous throughout. Definitely one to watch with a group of people, so you can dissect it afterwards. If you don't care for it the first time around, give it a second chance a few months later. Maybe it will grow on you like a certain "tumor" by the name of Marla.

If I had a tumor.......I would call it Fight Club.

NOTE: I thought that the music during the parking garage fight sequence was disturbingly similar to the music used during the infinite sequence in "2001: A Space Odyssey." Dave...... This film doesn't hold a candle to the statement of statements that is "2001: A Space Odyssey." I found it disrespectful that it was included in the film, but at the same time was reminded of what a truly revolutionary statement a movie can be. That is something that I can safely say "Fight Club" is not.



Reviewer: Dale
Grade: C


I am Jack's vast sense of disappointment.

There are a lot of people who will tell you that this is an excellent movie, perhaps even the best movie of the year. First off, I must say that I REALLY disagree with them. Second of all, I must say that I envy those who were able to enjoy this film because I wasn't one of them and I sorely wanted to be.

The film has an excellent first hour and, had it not strayed from this, it would probably have been up for a couple awards on Oscar Sunday. It begins with a very depressed young man, played to acute perfection by the enormously talented Edward Norton, who cannot sleep. Worse than that, he cannot feel. He goes through life like a dissatisfied drone. He has everything that the magazines say he should have to be happy, yet he has no emotions whatsoever. He goes through life in a state of numbness.

Then, one day, he starts going to therapy sessions for diseases he does not have. Here he begins to feel pain, shame, horror, infinite sadness, all the bad things in life... but the very fact that he is feeling fills him with glee. He becomes addicted to support groups and goes to them the way an addict uses their drug of choice. This portion of the film is a delightful bit of satiric comedy that I was very fond of. It's the sort of daring, brilliant dark comedy that we just don't see anymore these days.

But then Ed meets a character played by Brad Pitt. I did not love or hate Brad's performance. It sort of just hangs there. With Brad, Ed starts "Fight Club". This is, ironically, the weakest stuff in the film. The movie never reallly reveals what the point of fight club is. Maybe that is its point, okay, cool. But.. it just didn't work for me. It didn't work half as well as the support group stuff had. It struck me as quite stupid, really.

From there, the film just seems to unravel. So does Edward's life. He discovers something about himself, a plot twist that made me groan. By the end, the film seems to be trying to pass itself off as some sort of poor man's answer to "The Sixth Sense". I guess the ending all makes sense, but I didn't feel it was needed. It felt like the filmmakers were not secure enough in their story to trust it and instead felt the need to throw in some tricks.

Maybe it's one of those films that I will appreciate more on a further viewing and, I must say, I am sorta interested in seeing it again. But on my first experience, I was left a bit disappointed. I loved many aspects of the movie, even after it started to careen out of control, but I was ultimately left cold by it.