Every weekend in the basements and car parks of bars across the country, young men with good white-collar jobs and absent fathers take off their shoes and shirts and fight each other barehanded just as long as they have to.
"I don't wanna die without any scars.....do you?"
Edward Norton plays a disgruntled insurance office worker suffering from insomnia. His only relief comes after visiting self health groups for people suffering from terminal illnesses and pretending to be one of them, like he says 'when people think you're dying they really listen'. After meeting another 'tourist', Marla, played brilliantly by Helena Bonham Carter, Norton's insomnia returns. However after a freak accident destroys Norton's apartment and belongings he is forced to shack up in a rundown building with new acquaintance Tyler Durden, played by Pitt. Pitt's portrayal of the anarchic rebel is a wonderful contrast to Norton's character. Together they create a series of fight club's where men gather to fight and find out about themselves. However when these clubs turn into something more sinister Norton must try and work out who Tyler really is, which leads to a plot twist which makes the 'Sixth Sense' look predictable.
Although highly criticised upon its release for glorifying violence, this movie has a strong social message and struck a chord with the 'office drones' of the late 90's. It's hard to believe it was first released 10 years ago, and it truly hasn't aged a bit. Fincher's mastery of subtle CGI effects is now commonplace in modern film and TV. The opening title sequence which sees the camera panning through the unnamed narrator's (Edward Norton) brain is now copied weekly on such programmes as House and CSI, however upon its release it truly was groundbreaking. This originality is also apparent in the Dust Brother's sound track which pops and fizzes with a freshness which sounds just as good a decade on.
Sometimes genius is not immediately understood and that certainly applies to 'fight club' - a truly refreshing film in terms of plot and style this is a must see. As Pitt apparently remarked to Norton when watching the premier 'this is the best film we will ever be in!'
Norton's portrayal of a disgruntled Insurance office worker suffering from insomnia contrasts brilliantly with Pitt's anarchic care free Tyler Durden character. After meeting Tyler on a plane Norton's character returns to his apartment block to find it destroyed and all his prized belongings nothing more than smouldering remains.
David Fincher's brilliant adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's cult novels remains one of the seminal films of the 1990s.
Fincher's film briefly tapped the zeitgeist (in a series of op-ed articles over a #1 box-office weekend), then just as suddenly tanked, failing to turn a profit from domestic receipts. But when the film hit DVD, it steadily built its reputation as an unappreciated masterwork of cinema at the turn of the millennium. Now an evergreen cult movie in midnight screenings and home video reissues, Fight Club remains a signifier of Fincher's influential visual style (painted in shadows and sickly green) and a postmodern "violence chic" that, intentionally or not, rubs off of Fincher's work (including Se7en).
His best film to date, i think so. And one of the best films ever made.
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Adapted from Chuck Palahniuk's novel, David Fincher's controversial drama explores themes of masculinity and violence in contemporary society. Edward Norton stars as Jack, a bored insomniac, determined to inject some excitement into his life. He meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), a charismatic soap salesman who believes that the only way to escape the banality of modern existence is through violence. To these ends, Jack and Tyler set up 'Fight Clubs', where men can engage in brutal bare-knuckle fights. However, friction develops between the two men when they become rivals for the attentions of Marla (Helena Bonham-Carter).
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