Product Description: A confused young man tired of his life finds a new one in a new club where you beat each other to a plup as therapy. Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure Rating: R Release Date: 29-NOV-2005 Media Type: DVD
Amazon.com essential video: All films take a certain suspension of disbelief. Fight Club takes perhaps more than others, but if you're willing to let yourself get caught up in the anarchy, this film, based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk, is a modern-day morality play warning of the decay of society. Edward Norton is the unnamed protagonist, a man going through life on cruise control, feeling nothing. To fill his hours, he begins attending support groups and 12-step meetings. True, he isn't actually afflicted with the problems, but he finds solace in the groups. This is destroyed, however, when he meets Marla (Helena Bonham Carter), also faking her way through groups. Spiraling back into insomnia, Norton finds his life is changed once again, by a chance encounter with Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), whose forthright style and no-nonsense way of taking what he wants appeal to our narrator. Tyler and the protagonist find a new way to feel release: they fight. They fight each other, and then as others are attracted to their ways, they fight the men who come to join their newly formed Fight Club. Marla begins a destructive affair with Tyler, and things fly out of control, as Fight Club grows into a nationwide fascist group that escapes the protagonist's control.
Fight Club, directed by David Fincher (Seven), is not for the faint of heart; the violence is no holds barred. But the film is captivating and beautifully shot, with some thought-provoking ideas. Pitt and Norton are an unbeatable duo, and the film has some surprisingly humorous moments. The film leaves you with a sense of profound discomfort and a desire to see it again, if for no other reason than to just to take it all in. --Jenny Brown
THE BEST MOVIE EVER This is the best movie ever!!! After years of watching this movie repeatedly, I finally got the collectors addition. Worth every 1 of the 10 dollars I spent!!!
Forgettable Drivel... "Fight Club" is not going to appeal to anyone over the age of 30 who has a clue.
This film may purport to be about other issues, but it's really all about a twentysomething male who is attempting to establish an identity for himself. That he has insomnia is incidental to the chain of events that propels this story. Some parts of the film are humorous and some parts fall flat. I didn't find this film to be very thought provoking, only boorish.
To be frank, I watched the film all the way up to the part where the Brad Pitt character tells the Edward Norton Character, "I am you." My interpretation: David Fincher was saying, "Look, I'm smarter than you, and basically, at least within the confines of this great work of art, I am God."
At "I am you", I ejected the dvd from the player, took the disc out on my patio, and then I proceeded to pour charcoal lighter fluid all over it and set it on fire.
Norton and Pitt are two fine actors. What a waste.
A Winner! As a female reviewer of this film, I'm definitely in the minority. But I really enjoyed this movie....so much so that I bought it for my best friend from college. His response was basically, "What were you thinking?" I think its one of the most creative, symbolically loaded mixture of male angst and social commentary I've ever seen. It's funny, scary, witty, creative, dark, and utterly thought-provoking. I can't wait for the female version of a movie like this to come out. Thelma and Louise ran its course. If only film makers were as daring when it comes to portraying all the facets of being a woman in modern Western society. Hopefully, for someone brave and willing enough, Fight Club will lead the way.
Brutal... but sort of hollow Fight Club is one of the most beloved movies of all time. As of the writing of this, it currently sits at #23 on IMDb's fan-voted greatest movies list. Its Keyser Soze ending is even more famous than than the actual Keyser Soze ending. (If that last sentence means nothing to you, consider yourself priviliged to still have such a great cinematic discovery in front of you, and go rent The Usual Suspects).
I do not contest that Fight Club is great. It's unflinching in its portrayal of inner chaos manifested as brutal violence. It weaves a tapestry of cinema that simultaneously constructs two realities. It's a movie truly deserving of second viewing just so you can observe how intricately constructed the film is, particularly in ways you might not have noticed the full way through.
And yet, I walk away from a second viewing a little underwhelmed and with a few questions.
Why did it have to be so violent? Shock value does not make for good repeated viewings. That's why There's Something About Mary is one of the best comedies of all time only the first time you see it, among others. Perhaps the violence has some thought behind it and is there for thematic purposes? I can see how an argument would be made that the physical violence is a carefully constructed metaphor to the inner violence that takes place within Edward Norton's character.
But the movie is so gruesome that it's sometimes unpleasant to watch. I've made it through some supposedly hard-to-stomach scenes like the opening of Saving Private Ryan with nary a flinch, but I had to close my eyes or leave the room for a few scenes watching Fight Club again.
And the argument that the violence is symbolic doesn't sway me much, either, for a couple of reasons. First, even if some element of a movie serves a higher thematic purpose, it shouldn't be painful to watch. The scene when Edward Norton repeatedly smashes in that one guy's face could as well be Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea, and I still wouldn't think too much of it. I don't want to see bloody, fractured remnants of a face no matter what.
Next, I've decided that Fight Club does not work too well as a movie with any moral or underlying purpose. It's pure plot-driven entertainment. As a thoughtful movie, it is a poseur, continually touching on philosophical issues without delving too deep. Just as it starts to get close to being penetrative and insightful, it takes a left turn and beats in a dozen different thoughts that contribute little, until all that's left is a mere bloody pulp of a thoughtful movie.
Every time I tried to get more out of the movie than just white-knuckle action and clever plot twists, I came away disappointed. But nearly every time I allowed myself to just get absorbed into the masterful stylistic experience, I had a blast. To credit the careful construction of the movie as anything less than masterful would be an unfair insult to it. Hollow though it is, Fight Club is still a great movie.
Right There I know this is old news...my daughter introduced me to this movie several years ago...I just watched it again tonight....A great satire on modern american culture....Superb on on every level...should have been awarded the Oscar for best picture of the year.....clearly one of the best of the last ten years....
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