Review: FIGHT CLUB

RED, WHITE, BLACK & BLUE

(viewed at marple 10 on Sunday, Oct. 24th(havoc) with stu and morton)

    There is a powerful undercurrent running throughout the new David Fincher flick, Fight Club. It has been called ‘male malaise’ in the press, but in my mind it is a feeling more than a defintion. Brad Pitt’s character describes it best when he rambles out a monologue a little past the middle of the film. He more or less says after High School he called up his dad and asked him, “What now?” His dad says go to college. Five years later he calls up his dad and says, “What now?” His dad says get a job. Five years later he calls his dad up and says, “What now?” His dad says get married. This is what the film is all about. You have a job, you have a girl, you have money, nice clothes, but what now? Is that all? You hate your job, you can’t find the perfect girl. Is this it? Is this what you’re supposed to live with? A black hole of life…’male malaise’.
    Edward Norton is a white collar 9-to-5er who hates his job. His apartment is furnished with Ikea-brand furniture. His fridge is empty. He goes to work and comes home. His life is empty, he can’t sleep, he’s losing his mind.
    Norton starts to attend a group therapy (like AA) session with guys who have testicular cancer and cry their eyes out as they each tell their sob stories. Norton doesn’t have testicular cancer but he soon finds it’s a great release to have everyone listen to you and actually care about what you’re saying. He soon gets addicted to group therapy sessions and it helps him sleep.
    He meets a kinetic stranger played by Brad Pitt on an airplane. Pitt is out of his mind and sells soap, but makes a lot of sense. Norton comes home to his apartment which is blown up. He needs a place to stay, he calls Pitt, they meet in a bar, they leave, they start Fight Club.
    The film ventures into some strange areas after the duo begin their underground club. The world is different and alive, and they have it by the balls. No more white collar shit. No more cutting the grass on Saturdays and sipping lemonade next to a wife you don’t care about. Society’s walls are broken down (figuratively and literally) and Norton and Pitt are Gods.
    The film is good because it’s stylish and it makes a lot of sense. It is alive with power and directed extremely well by Fincher whose last outing (The Game) almost killed him. There are a lot of stupid parts about Fight Club. I’m sure the novel by Chuck Palahniuk is much better, but the film has more to it than meets the eye. It’s a nightmare and unrealistic but wild all the same. The ending alone is worth the price of admission. Just the quietness of it all. Everything beforehand is forgotten. It’s a great moment to an uneven movie that has an equal amount of guts and brains. *** (out of ****)