Director: David Fincher
Stars:Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter, Meat Loaf
Genres:Drama | Mystery | Thriller
Rating: 8.8/10 (IMDB.com)
I find movies that are violence with little more (aka, "Kill Bill") to be boring, and can't remember when I last tormented myself by sitting through one. Thus, when I first became aware of "Fight Club", I disregarded it, believing it to be a violence-filled, testosterone-driven movie likely to have little depth and an overly simple plot. I was judging the movie on it's title and the promotional images it was advertised with, and was not impressed with what I had concluded. Fortunately, "Fight Club" has proven to be more than just A list faces in a gratuitous violence movie - but a well developed story of an individual with ambition, psychological abnormalities, and an overactive imagination.
We never learn the main character's name (Edward Norton), although he uses several names throughout the movie. He narrates many scenes, offering an insight into his thoughts and actions to the audience. He's an analyst in the "compliance and liability" department of a "major automobile manufacturer" whose job includes long hours and frequent travel. He develops insomnia, which causes the narrator to go about his days in a daze; "When you have insomnia, you're never really asleep, and you're never really awake" he says, and seeks the help of his doctor.
His doctor refuses to prescribe medication to him, and when the narrator pleads with him, saying he's "in pain", the doctor sarcastically suggests "You wanna see pain? Swing by First Methodist Tuesday nights. See the guys with testicular cancer. That's pain." The narrator visits this support group, which is where he meets and befriends Robert Paulson (Meat Loaf).
The narrator finds that attending support groups allows him the release he needs to be able to sleep, and before long, he is visiting a different support group each day of the week. Finally he is able to sleep and feels much better for it.
The narrator's therapy is abruptly disrupted by the presence of a newcomer to his support groups, Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter). Marla too is a "faker", one who visits the support groups without having the disease that the members meet to support, and the narrator's insomnia returns when he realizes that he can't get the same effect with another faker at the meetings. He confronts Marla and pleads with her to alternate her meetings with his, and she agrees.
The narrator is sent on a business trip. During his return flight, he meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) who introduces himself as one who "makes and sells soap". They share a few words before Durden hands the narrator his card and excuses himself.
Upon returning home, the narrator finds that his condominium has exploded, apparently from a gas leak. He finds Durden's card and calls him, asking if he could stay with him. Durden consents, and the two meet up and go to a bar.
As they are leaving the bar, Durden asks the narrator to do him a favor, "I want you to hit me as hard as you can." The narrator is a bit surprised, but complies, punching Durden in the ear. Durden responds with punching the narrator in the gut, and the two take in the experience of pain.
They quickly find that through fighting, they can bond and feel the same release the narrator was getting from the support groups. They fight again in public, and draw a small crowd of spectators. In time, these spectators fight too, drawing attention and instigating what formalized into Fight Club.
As the narrator and Durden form Fight Club, it's rules are defined and it's membership swells. Fight Club eventually moves from the parking lot to the basement of the bar just as members become devoted to the club and its founders. Despite rules against talking about Fight Club, new members show up at each meeting looking to be initiated.
The movie continues with Fight Clubs formed in other cities, and Fight Club morphing into "Project Mayhem", a task based organization with more ambitious goals and more drastic means of achieving them. The movie ends with the same scene that it opened with, with the narrator and Durden poised to witness the culmination of Project Mayhem's efforts.
Generally, I do not like when movies hide key pieces of their story until the last few minutes before disclosing them to the audience. Fight Club does this, but it is quite forgivable. The surprise ending is virtually necessary to maintain the continuity and believability of the story, and it all but guarantees that the audience will want to watch Fight Club again.
My rating: excellent (out of superb)
posted by: Thomas
No comments:
Post a Comment