memento_mori's Movie Review of Fight Club

Rating of
4/4

Fight Club

Wreaking havoc.
memento_mori - wrote on 07/12/13

Spoilers

Fight Club is not about fighting. Fight Club is not about expressing yourself through violence. It's not about kicking a*s… It's about getting your a*s kicked.

The Narrator (Cornelius, Rupert) is our clichéd white-collar everyman consumerist, played invincibly well by Edward Norton. He is so bored with his life and so tired of his job, which requires him to travel often and cause his jet lag, which ignites his insomnia. To him everything is a copy of a copy of a copy. Nothing is real. Everything is fake. Except for Tyler Durden.
Tyler Durden is cool. Tyler Durden is a trouble-maker. Tyler Durden is a soap salesman. Tyler Durden does not exist.
The Narrator was at his lowest point, that's for sure. He was starting to descend into the abyss of insanity, until a spark of his imagination sprouted from his head and took the form of Tyler Durden, the Narrator's new role model and exact opposite.
The Narrator is organized, clean, habilitated. Tyler Durden is chaotic, humorous, and a troublemaker.
The Moral: Everyone needs a little chaos in their lives.

Notice this is the only review I've written so far, in which I have included a plot summary. I never summarize movies in my reviews, because that's what IMDB, Wikipedia and FilmCrave are for. I express my opinion. But here, I simply had to sum it all together, it's just that worthy of a mention.
The characters in this movie are so relatable, especially the Narrator. Edward Norton has proven on so many occasions that he can act, he has nothing to prove anymore. He is phenomenal once again.

The direction by David Fincher is so unique and appealing. From the title credits to the closing credits, I could just not believe how well put together each scene is. You really get a specific feel from the tone of this movie, just like with Se7en, still in my opinion Fincher's masterpiece.
The use of location and props are also fantastic. From the airports and hotels to the exploded condo and the run-down house.
I also love the pessimistic mono- and dialogue. Brilliant writing.

But most of all, what appeals to me the most is the message. You get what this movie is trying to say. The first time I watched this movie, I didn't even like it that much. I thought it was overly violent and had no real purpose. I started the movie extremely skeptical as to what it would be like, even the title was just so over the top. Call it a love/hate movie, but I loved it on the second watch. It had character, it had great dialogue and what I believe to be the best monologues in cinema, it had depth and it had great direction. Yes, it is overly violent, but when you think about it, it's there for a reason. Even if you take away the violence, there is still an amazing premise and story, but the message isn't quite the same. Pretty? No. Necessary? Yes.

It's another movie I could watch over and over and keep questioning what it wants me to question. It may never give me an answer, but that's okay. Tyler wouldn't want me to know.

Recent Comments

memento_mori - wrote on 07/14/13 at 03:39 AM CT

Fight Club Review comment

Yeah, I know. Thanks for all the nice comments! :)

Daniel Corleone - wrote on 07/13/13 at 06:44 PM CT

Fight Club Review comment

Great thorough review. Definitely not everyone's cup of tea and but a smart cult classic. One of my all-time favorite movies. Just perfect and gets better with repeat viewings.

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