Jan 10, 2004 03:05 PM
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(Updated Jan 10, 2004 03:05 PM)
The first rule of Fight Club is... you do not talk about Fight Club.
That's a particularly hard rule to obey. One of the few films which are truly visceral, head-twisting and true movie experiences. How could you not talk about it? Whether you liked it or not, you had no choice but to talk. It's a film that can divide an audience. You either love it or you hate it. I was one of the lovers of this film, but I have my reasons. Fight Club, based on the book by Chuck Palahniuk is something that just crawls into your brain and talks FOR you, not TO you.
Second rule of Fight Club... you DO NOT talk about Fight Club.
Fight Club follows an unnamed narrator played by Edward Norton. He has an office job, a great apartment filled with many beautiful things and what most of us would call a life. But he's having problems sleeping and goes to the doctor about it. He learns that it has nothing to do with any physical problems in him, but he's recommended to attend a support group meeting. He does, and he soon becomes addicted to it - if there's a disease for something, he'll be at the support group. It's cathartic for him to see others whose suffering is worse than his own. He can feel better about himself by holding these dying people in his arms. It's at these meetings that he meets Marla (Helena Bonham Carter), a chain smoking death chick with a similar addition to human suffering. Like him, she's a tourist at these meetings, and it's making him feel guilty. So he confronts her about it, and they agree to alternate nights and groups, as if these 12-step programs were their children. This also invites her into his life.
About this same time, Norton bumps into Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), a messiah of sorts who works as a hotel waiter, film projectionist and all-around entrepreneur. When Norton's apartment is mysteriously blown up, he calls his new friend Tyler for a place to crash. It's there that the two of them start Fight Club. Together they create an underground movement of men, who have lost their way in life and figure they can beat it back into each other. Tyler is the ringleader and, slowly but surely, the club becomes an organization and the one-on-one fights turn into full-scale war on the world. They form a terrorist group known as Space Monkeys (because the first astronauts were chimps taught to pull levers and buttons) to wage that war. And when Norton finally realizes what's going on, it's up to him to stop Tyler and the Space Monkeys before it's too late. But he first has to find the elusive Tyler, and that may prove harder than he thinks.
Third rule of Fight Club... when someone says stop or goes limp, the fight is over.
Norton and Pitt (one of my fav. actors) are really great and they work well together. For all the bad things one could find in the film, you can't find anything wrong in the performances. Even the supporting characters are great. Fincher really is proving to be the Stanley Kubrick of the new generation of filmmakers (as observed by Pitt).
Fourth rule of Fight Club... only two guys to a fight.
Photography: As is typical with most David Fincher films, Fight Club is a dark, gritty, color-washed out, underexposed head-trip. The image captured on film looks fantastic. There's some light grain, but it's very minor and only enhances the look of the film. You can see exactly what's going on in every look, gesture and motion. It gives the experience of the film that much more payoff. What you do get is crisp (yet smooth) looking images, deep blacks befitting a Fincher picture, excellent detail (particularly in shadows, where most of this film takes place) and nicely accurate (if muted) color which makes all that badly bruised flesh look like... well, badly bruised flesh. What else do you want?
Fifth rule of Fight Club... one fight at a time.
The Sound design is also great. The surround sound mix is terrifically atmospheric. This is a film jam-packed with subtle little sound cues, audio transitions and distant wild sounds. You'll hear every one, but not just from 5 isolated locations in your soundfield. No... this audio environment is very unified and smooth from channel to channel. Dialogue is nicely clear and the soundstage is very deep and wide, with rich and substantial bass. The mix goes from blissfully subtle to aggressively attacking with ease, without ever sounding forced or imbalanced. The electronic score is by DJs The Dust Brothers. It's a perfect blend of old and new, and conveys everything that needs to be said thru the film.
Sixth rule of Fight Club... no shirt, no shoes.
Visual Effects: If it has any faults, it would be in terms of digital special effects. At times they seem a bit ''rushed'' - for example, a shot of a garbage can or when the camera speeds down the side of a building, into a parking garage and right to a van parked therein. They just look too computerized and don't quite grab you. But at other times, like with the opening credits or when Norton gives Pitt a piece of his mind at the end, the effects work. CGI is a fickle mistress.
Seventh rule of Fight Club... fights go on as long as they have to.
Fight Club is a very easy target for critics. The point can validly be made that director David Fincher and company are glorifying violence. I don't think they are. I think there's a greater point to be made. If you looked at the film on a personal level, you'd see how ''true'' most of it is. There's anger at the heart of this film. There's anger behind the people who made it. We earned that anger, but we don't wallow in it. Fincher and Palahniuk have presented us with an open love letter to that anger, and we're free to interpret it as we like. Speaking for myself, I identified with it and really appreciated it. You might have a different take on it. But there's no denying the power (and yes... even value) of the film.
Eighth and final rule of Fight Club... if this is your first night at Fight Club, you have to fight.
David Fincher does a very good job visualizing and capturing the essence of the book. But the film, on its own, may not satisfy everyone. His attention to detail, and the way he uses the camera to tell the story, are touches of genius most filmmakers only hope to master. In most every way, Fight Club is a perfect film. director David Fincher is his sense of humor, his attention to detail and his perceptiveness. as they delve into the characters and their motivations. - very cool.
The Ninth rule of Fight Club is... you must watch this film.
Okay... so there isn't a Ninth rule. But you get the idea. Fight Club the film is like an outrageously expensive full body massage with flying bricks thrown at you, they pick you up off the floor, slap and kick your broken body back into consciousness.
