Fight Club (1999)

Director: David Fincher
Cast: Edward Norton, Brad Pitt

Fight Club is a very stylized movie, a rush of adrenaline that seems exciting and fresh. This isn't to say that Fight Club is without its flaws... the movie drags on quite a bit and is quite cynical and nihilistic, offering close to nothing in the way of good moral values. It is twisted and violent but it's certainly well made, not a good movie for the squeamish. If you're in the mood for something hip and won't mind a few brutal beatings -- scenes that will definitly be hard for some to watch -- then this could be worth your time.
Edward Norton plays a nameless character troubled by insomnia and sick of the monotonous, droning office work that plagues his life. Counseling has failed to bring him relief and he is desperate for some sort of treatment. An energetic punk named Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) thinks he has the answer, and together they form an underground wrestling group for men, looking for some spice in their life and a place to vent male aggression. All the characters are portrayed exactly as they should be, but don't expect any blowout performances here. What really caught my eye (or ear) about Fight Club is the deliciously flourished script. Every line narrarated by Norton is wonderfully poetic and fits the stylized feel of the movie absolutely perfectly. The dark comedy sprinkled here and there throughout fits in with the spectacularly edgy, bizarre cinematography.
There are reasons that I choose to review the films that I do, and one important one is that I'm trying to take a fresh look at some of the films that may have been dismissed by the general public. Perhaps not everyone has understood, or even seen the point of, some of these movies, but that doesn't mean that they are totally without merit. I think that Fight Club is a movie that was quickly rejected by many viewers -- or potential viewers -- as a just another crazy, violent Hollywood movie. The truth is, it is a deeply flawed original, a film that stands out from the pack, even if it doesn't have a lot of redeeming qualities.
-Jack Lewers

Rating---7.5