‘This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time.’
I knew this day would come eventually and I’m completely unprepared for it. How do I review Fight Club? I’ve decided I’m not going to analyse the themes of the story, or at least not in depth, because it’ll take too long and there’s too many different angles to come at it from. So many people have done it before too that I’ll have nothing new to bring to the table. So, I guess I’ll just opt for rambling, rambling normally works pretty well. So here’s why I love Fight Club.
When a car recall coordinator suffering with insomnia (Edward Norton) meets soap salesman Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) he begins to realise that his life is controlled by consumerism and an inability to feel anything. Together the two men start Fight Club, a way for men to gather and release their anger and frustration in the way that society has conditioned them to behave. But when the two men become embroiled in a relationship with Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter), her presence threatens the great plan that Tyler has set in motion.
Following his discovery of the 1996 Fight Club novel by Chuck Palahniuk, David Fincher sought to purchase the film rights for the novel as he connected so deeply with the story. To Fincher’s dismay however, he discovered that the rights had already been purchased by Twentieth Century Fox, a studio he had vowed not to work with again following the disastrous production of Alien 3. Convinced by the writers and producers that he would not experience a repeat of that trainwreck, Fincher agreed to direct the film under the condition that he could rewrite the studio’s script to more closely resemble the book.
Of course, Fox being Fox they couldn’t help but interfere late into production. Fearful of the film Fincher had created, a last-minute marketing change happened, and Fight Club ultimately suffered at the box office because of it. Barely making back its budget, Fight Club was a financial disappointment, and its nihilistic themes and graphic violence didn’t exactly bode well with critics either. But audiences that did see the film loved it, and Fight Club went on to be one of the most successful home entertainment releases in Fox’s history as a distributor. A cultural landmark of a film, Fight Club was quickly lapped up by film buffs everywhere for dissection and analysis of its many themes and of Fincher’s complex filming techniques, the film’s memorable and highly quotable dialogue became part of the cultural lexicon, and even today Fight Club is considered to be one of the most culturally important films ever made by many high-profile journalism outlets.
For me, to quote Norton’s nameless narrator, Fight Club found me at a very strange time in my life, and I was quickly swept up by its incredible production values and its aggressive nihilism. Whilst I have certainly outgrown my rather naïve view of the film that I had as a late teen, Fight Club remains one of my all-time favourite films just for how well everything just clicks together.
When a car recall coordinator suffering with insomnia (Edward Norton) meets soap salesman Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) he begins to realise that his life is controlled by consumerism and an inability to feel anything. Together the two men start Fight Club, a way for men to gather and release their anger and frustration in the way that society has conditioned them to behave. But when the two men become embroiled in a relationship with Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter), her presence threatens the great plan that Tyler has set in motion.
Following his discovery of the 1996 Fight Club novel by Chuck Palahniuk, David Fincher sought to purchase the film rights for the novel as he connected so deeply with the story. To Fincher’s dismay however, he discovered that the rights had already been purchased by Twentieth Century Fox, a studio he had vowed not to work with again following the disastrous production of Alien 3. Convinced by the writers and producers that he would not experience a repeat of that trainwreck, Fincher agreed to direct the film under the condition that he could rewrite the studio’s script to more closely resemble the book.
Of course, Fox being Fox they couldn’t help but interfere late into production. Fearful of the film Fincher had created, a last-minute marketing change happened, and Fight Club ultimately suffered at the box office because of it. Barely making back its budget, Fight Club was a financial disappointment, and its nihilistic themes and graphic violence didn’t exactly bode well with critics either. But audiences that did see the film loved it, and Fight Club went on to be one of the most successful home entertainment releases in Fox’s history as a distributor. A cultural landmark of a film, Fight Club was quickly lapped up by film buffs everywhere for dissection and analysis of its many themes and of Fincher’s complex filming techniques, the film’s memorable and highly quotable dialogue became part of the cultural lexicon, and even today Fight Club is considered to be one of the most culturally important films ever made by many high-profile journalism outlets.
For me, to quote Norton’s nameless narrator, Fight Club found me at a very strange time in my life, and I was quickly swept up by its incredible production values and its aggressive nihilism. Whilst I have certainly outgrown my rather naïve view of the film that I had as a late teen, Fight Club remains one of my all-time favourite films just for how well everything just clicks together.
Opening with a thumping breakbeat track composed by The Dust Brothers, Fight Club is a visceral assault on the senses from the word go. Kicking things off with our narrator with a gun in his mouth and Tyler talking of some impending unstoppable event that will change the course of history, you’re thrown in at the deep end and expected to just go with it. Norton then recalls the events that led to this moment, about his unfulfilling job where the worth of human life is boiled down to an equation, to his nicely furnished but soulless apartment where he suffers from insomnia, and even about how he attends group therapy sessions for people dying of various horrendous illnesses just to try and make him feel better about his own life. He’s a nasty, loathsome, and miserable human being who sees no joy in the world, or purpose in life other than buying tacky furniture for his apartment.
But then he meets Tyler, and Tyler teaches him that it’s the world that’s wrong, not him. That people need to wake up to the fact that they’re puppets for the wealthy and to the things that they own, and once they strip themselves of all that they hold dear that only then will the world begin to change and heal.
From here Fight Club becomes a true testosterone fuelled attack on capitalism and repressed masculinity, building to a grad crescendo involving a domestic terrorism network built out of a basement taking on the credit card companies to reset the national debt back to zero. It’s absolutely crazy, and yet its sometimes perverse philosophies are what make Fight Club so unlike any other film of its ilk, with the fantastic dialogue and excellent performances bringing you back again and again.
This is a film that could have easily gone very wrong. The reason why Fight Club works as a novel is because of Palahniuk’s dry humour and irony that is so pervasive throughout, stripping that away from Fight Club as a film is exactly what Fox wanted to do, but the result would have been disastrous. Without the humour, without the fourth-wall breaking winks, and without two incredibly charismatic leading men this would be an entirely different film.
Let’s start with Edward Norton. The narrator is a tough role to play because how to play a man with no purpose and no desires? For the first act he’s kind of deadpan, and it works so well. He’s so overtired from being an insomniac that he just floats through life not giving a damn about anything or anyone. Once he meets Tyler and begins to agree with his philosophies, the narrator becomes so enamoured with everything this man represents. His apathy transforms into disgust, his inaction becomes aggressive reaction, and his acceptance of a consumer driven lifestyle shifts to the desire to destroy material wealth. Norton is funny in a sadistic way, you laugh because he’s so matter of fact about things and he doesn’t care about anyone else. You don’t like him, but the way he handles his own misery is undeniably alluring to watch.
Tyler Durden is written to be the man that all men want to be, and Brad Pitt goes all out with it. He’s incredibly charismatic, tremendously smart, dashingly handsome, and a sex god. Pitt’s performance is so convincing that there are moments where I forget he’s acting, and you can tell he’s having so much fun with the role. Despite these seemingly positive attributes, Tyler is toxic masculinity personified. He is all the worst things a man can be amplified to the extreme. He’s a violent and controlling narcissist who believes that human life has no value. In order to free ‘mindless slaves’ from the shackles of corporations, he creates mindless slaves to his own cause. He is no better than the system he is trying to dismantle, but he does it with such conviction and charisma that you can’t help but fall victim to it yourself.
Bonham Carter is equally fantastic as Marla, and again another perfect casting choice. She’s destitute and suicidal, but she’s also quick witted and wickedly funny. She revels in the misery of others but secretly just desires friendship.
All of the performances are aided by a truly magnificent script that feels as though it was mostly lifted directly from the book. It’s fast paced, and sharp as a knife, in fact the only other Fincher film with dialogue that compares to this is 2010’s The Social Network.
But then he meets Tyler, and Tyler teaches him that it’s the world that’s wrong, not him. That people need to wake up to the fact that they’re puppets for the wealthy and to the things that they own, and once they strip themselves of all that they hold dear that only then will the world begin to change and heal.
From here Fight Club becomes a true testosterone fuelled attack on capitalism and repressed masculinity, building to a grad crescendo involving a domestic terrorism network built out of a basement taking on the credit card companies to reset the national debt back to zero. It’s absolutely crazy, and yet its sometimes perverse philosophies are what make Fight Club so unlike any other film of its ilk, with the fantastic dialogue and excellent performances bringing you back again and again.
This is a film that could have easily gone very wrong. The reason why Fight Club works as a novel is because of Palahniuk’s dry humour and irony that is so pervasive throughout, stripping that away from Fight Club as a film is exactly what Fox wanted to do, but the result would have been disastrous. Without the humour, without the fourth-wall breaking winks, and without two incredibly charismatic leading men this would be an entirely different film.
Let’s start with Edward Norton. The narrator is a tough role to play because how to play a man with no purpose and no desires? For the first act he’s kind of deadpan, and it works so well. He’s so overtired from being an insomniac that he just floats through life not giving a damn about anything or anyone. Once he meets Tyler and begins to agree with his philosophies, the narrator becomes so enamoured with everything this man represents. His apathy transforms into disgust, his inaction becomes aggressive reaction, and his acceptance of a consumer driven lifestyle shifts to the desire to destroy material wealth. Norton is funny in a sadistic way, you laugh because he’s so matter of fact about things and he doesn’t care about anyone else. You don’t like him, but the way he handles his own misery is undeniably alluring to watch.
Tyler Durden is written to be the man that all men want to be, and Brad Pitt goes all out with it. He’s incredibly charismatic, tremendously smart, dashingly handsome, and a sex god. Pitt’s performance is so convincing that there are moments where I forget he’s acting, and you can tell he’s having so much fun with the role. Despite these seemingly positive attributes, Tyler is toxic masculinity personified. He is all the worst things a man can be amplified to the extreme. He’s a violent and controlling narcissist who believes that human life has no value. In order to free ‘mindless slaves’ from the shackles of corporations, he creates mindless slaves to his own cause. He is no better than the system he is trying to dismantle, but he does it with such conviction and charisma that you can’t help but fall victim to it yourself.
Bonham Carter is equally fantastic as Marla, and again another perfect casting choice. She’s destitute and suicidal, but she’s also quick witted and wickedly funny. She revels in the misery of others but secretly just desires friendship.
All of the performances are aided by a truly magnificent script that feels as though it was mostly lifted directly from the book. It’s fast paced, and sharp as a knife, in fact the only other Fincher film with dialogue that compares to this is 2010’s The Social Network.
Whilst Fincher was certainly flexing his stylistic muscles in his three previous films, Fight Club is arguably the point at which all of his signature moves come together for the first time. Looking at Alien 3, Se7en, and The Game there are certainly bits of what became Fincher’s signature style in there, but Fight Club brings those motif’s together, and they’re seen in all of his films after this point too. Smooth and precise camera movements, intricately detailed CGI that seamlessly melds with the live action footage, and the way people and things are placed in the frame.
There’s a lot of work that went into making Fight Club look dirty too. Shot on Super 35 film, the footage was manipulated in such unusual ways to really bring out the film grain and accentuate the filth. Combine this with the aesthetic applied to each character and their surroundings, Tyler in particular looks shiny and dirty to match his damp and run-down living situation.
Then the score, composed by the previously mentioned Dust Brothers, it’s pure adrenaline in the form of soundwaves. The bass hits hard and the tempo is lightning quick, listening to it feels like you’re being beaten with a stick and that feels like it was very much the point.
Fight Club is full on, go hard or go home kind of entertainment. Whilst its messages have been misconstrued over the years by many angry young men, it’s ultimately a tale about accepting responsibility for your own life rather than blaming all your problems on something or someone else. It’s loud, it’s violent, and it’s generally unpleasant, but it all combines together to make something really special. Fight Club remains one of my favourite films of all time because of its intricate design, sharp dialogue, and fantastic performances, but I can definitely see why people might not like it. Personally, I feel its one of Fincher’s two greatest films, the other being The Social Network. Yet through all of this I have forgotten the first two rules of Fight Club, so I guess I’d better wrap this up.
There’s a lot of work that went into making Fight Club look dirty too. Shot on Super 35 film, the footage was manipulated in such unusual ways to really bring out the film grain and accentuate the filth. Combine this with the aesthetic applied to each character and their surroundings, Tyler in particular looks shiny and dirty to match his damp and run-down living situation.
Then the score, composed by the previously mentioned Dust Brothers, it’s pure adrenaline in the form of soundwaves. The bass hits hard and the tempo is lightning quick, listening to it feels like you’re being beaten with a stick and that feels like it was very much the point.
Fight Club is full on, go hard or go home kind of entertainment. Whilst its messages have been misconstrued over the years by many angry young men, it’s ultimately a tale about accepting responsibility for your own life rather than blaming all your problems on something or someone else. It’s loud, it’s violent, and it’s generally unpleasant, but it all combines together to make something really special. Fight Club remains one of my favourite films of all time because of its intricate design, sharp dialogue, and fantastic performances, but I can definitely see why people might not like it. Personally, I feel its one of Fincher’s two greatest films, the other being The Social Network. Yet through all of this I have forgotten the first two rules of Fight Club, so I guess I’d better wrap this up.