Fight Club

One thing you notice as a critic is that not all movies are for everyone, but that doesn't stop a great film from being one, or mean that every great film is for everyone. If the requisite for a **** review was that it be recommended viewing for every single person out there, the most challenging and innovative movies would often fall by the wayside. And so, with that appropriate disclaimer aside, Fight Club is one of the most innovative and entertaining films of the year, but some people aren't going to like it very much. Some would say it's "just for guys" or "just for young people", but I think that excludes too many people... let's just say some people are more likely to enjoy it than others... and know that going in.

It is true that Fight Club is a very male film, as one of its central themes (of a few) is that of what has happened to the male in modern society; with the "Fight Clubs" being a violent sort of Primal Scream therapy. It's such a male movie that there's only a few speaking roles for women in the whole piece. In other previews, I often decry the lack of good roles for women today, but in the case of Fight Club if in no other film this year, it makes a little sense... by filling the screen with so much testosterone, its messages resonate.

Fight Club is also a film about one man's journey from that of a corporate/social drone to that of a free-thinking individual, and in that way, has a central character (played by Edward Norton in yet another sizzling turn) similar to Neo in The Matrix and Lester in American Beauty. (I need to note that David Poland of roughcut.com and I hit upon the same notion, and he actually goes into this in more detail... see the link to his piece to the bottom left). It's almost like the two separate paths in those two films come together and meet in Fight Club, and then they all spiral off again into another. Of those two other films, Fight Club is more like American Beauty even though its apparent violence (and its intended audience) are closer to The Matrix at first glance. Like Lester, Jack (Norton) finds himself trapped in a social structure (work, family, etc.) that he wants to break past, but in doing so, he finds things backlashing in ways he hadn't anticipated (not unlike Yeats' often-quoted "things fall apart; the center cannot hold").

Going in, you should be aware that Fight Club is indeed quite violent, worthy of its R rating, and very confrontational. Though he took a breather from it in The Game, director David Fincher is back to the "Wow, did he really show us that?" mode that made Seven so popular. With Fight Club, however, you can really see how he has evolved visually, with really only one or two gross scenes. It's also worth noting that the violence in Fight Club is almost always mutual... this is not a movie about victims (well, at least the first half isn't... whether there are victims in the second half is debatable), which is to say that when a character steps into the Fight Club ring, as in boxing, he is on some sort of equal ground with his opponent (though as in Animal Farm (another story Fight Club resembles), some are "more equal than others").

There's been some worrying (that considering the very copycat nature of our society that this film is portraying) that Fight Club is an irresponsible film because it may inspire some people to go out and start "Fight Clubs", and other acts of wanton violence. Though I admire this movie as a piece of art and a social statement, I don't condone people actually being violent in real life, with one exception... I could see how Fight Club could inspire people to take up boxing and martial arts to relieve whatever angst and stress they feel their lives are filled with (in a similar way that American Beauty made me think I should work out more :). But as to setting fires and blowing up skyscrapers... I would suggest that with the violent videogames and such that have already been available for a while, people have plenty of other things than real-life vandalism to relieve their anxieties. At least I hope so.

Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helena Bonham Carter are the obvious stars of this film, and in a way, they represent a Freudian analogy of Ego, Id, and Superego (respectively) that I think the film is very aware of. Edward Norton here demonstrates again that with Kevin Spacey, he is one of the great actors of our time, as the depth of emotions and thoughts his character has to balance to keep the story going are amazing... his Jack is a man at odds with both himself and the world he was born into. Brad Pitt is the fiery, Puckish character we expect from him, and Carter playfully discards her more cultured image to play a woman who's a spiritual mate to Jack (Norton). (The film begins with them attending support groups for the emotional buzz they get from them... Jack then goes on to find a sort of support group for repressed men with violent tendencies... Fight Club).

One other film that I'd like to compare Fight Club to (though this is spoiler territory, so I will "white space" some of the text) is Pink Floyd: The Wall. Like the lead character in that film, Jack (Norton) finds himself evolving into the demigogue of a Skinhead-ish cult of violent and anarchic young men, as an alter-ego fraction of his psyche takes over. Then, he challenges that personality, and the resulting confrontation breaks one and sets the other free. By the way... I think this movie is often underrated and it is highly recommended, even if you don't know the music that well. (Okay... I could've just whited out that whole paragraph, but leaving bits behind was fun. :)

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