1999. Violence. Soap.
For the characters of Fight Club these two words are the outlet from the day to day grind. Edward Norton stars, alongside Brad Pitt, as a person frustrated with his life and is ever seeking a change from the emptiness of his corporate, materialistic existence. That is, of course, until he finds Tyler Durden.
This screen adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s masterpiece is just about as good as it gets. Diving head first into male aggression and its weird association with male bonding as group therapy sets a disarming tone for this fighting movie great. The film opens the door to the crazy bus, takes your token and proceeds to drive off the rail. The unrelenting commitment to the rawer, baser ideals of society and malehood is the kind of dedication that makes a great film – regardless of your standpoint.
While the movie is called Fight Club (and yes there is violence enough to go around) those going into it expecting a shallow action film will be sorely disappointed. It is exponentially more. This movie is as much about human emotion as it is revolution, as much social commentary as it is an amalgamation of meaningful knuckle sandwiches. Fight Club is a journey into the human mind that purveys a scenic meaninglessness in capitalistic survival.
Along the way there are ass-whoopins, vigilantism, a love story involving Helena Bonham Carter and Meat Loaf with a sizable man-rack. What more could you ask for?
This movie still makes my friends want to start a fight club every time after watching. When we make it to 70 we will likely watch it and start punching the crap out of each other to celebrate how anti-establishment we are.
As much as I loved this movie, I couldn’t help but grin at the irony during the scene where Brad Pitt asks Ed Norton, while riding on the bus looking at an Abercrombie poster, ” Is that what a real man is supposed to look like?” when both of them are so ripped they could have just stepped out of that very poster.
I think the casting for this movie was fantastic as well!
Movie is phenomenal!! Great review, striking insight!!