[HEADING=2]Fight Club[/HEADING]
Spoilers contained throughout. If you haven't seen this film then for Pete's sake go and watch it and come back.
I would like, if I may, to present to you my all time favourite film.
This is something sacred to me, the first time a film and I really connected. It sparked for me a new interest in a medium. While others listened to music or aspired to be great artists, I enveloped myself in the works of Kubric and Spielberg. It is my pleasure to share with you my review of Fight Club- how I see it, and how it changed my views on film.
My love affair with this celluloid wet dream starts in my early teenage years. An impressionable youth drifting in and out of life with no clear purpose or goals in life comes across something, well, a bit special.
But this is not were the whole story starts. Let's go from the beginning.
[HEADING=2]"I want you to hit me as hard as you can."[/HEADING]
[small]Tyler Durden, outside Lou's Tavern[/small]
Fight Club is, as you know, a critically acclaimed film and loved by many. It will be proudly displayed in many self-respecting film fan's collections.
But it didn't start out this way. The first screening can be described with many adjectives of varying ferocity: massacre, lynching, Barry Manilow in concert... all good descriptions of the reactions it evoked. Critics pounced on it and started chewing bits off twixt rabid, foaming teeth.
They called it for everything, from it being a metaphor for homosexuality to, and I quote, "bringing back the teachings of the Fuhrer". Not to mention, unsurprisingly, preachings of terrorism.
Add a poor marketing campaign to this and you have the recipe nuclear flop on your hands.
However, when every scrap of hope had been swallowed by the cruel machinations of fate, when all ambition seemed for naught, when all seemed lost... well, it was.
It was a catastrophic failure, making almost none of the lifeblood of the industry: money.
It's ironic really; a film that preaches against advertising and marketing was almost killed by the very lack of it.
But over the months that followed, something amazing happened. Word of mouth traveled around the bars and the campuses and the workplace, culminating in one of the strongest DVD releases ever. Some even credit Fight Club with starting the DVD revolution- would we have our fifteen disc special editions without it? Who can say?
All I can say is that it seems almost... Appropriate.
Still, the initial backlash had far reaching consequences. No awards would touch it- accolades it richly deserved for sheer thought provoking bravado and originality. The best the film got Oscar-wise was a pathetic nod to "Best Effects" in 2000. Anyone who has seen this film knows that they might as well have set the cast on fire, such was the insult.
But times change.
Miraculously the critics' opinion turned around the same time everyone decided to like it (funny how that works) gaining recognition from diverse sources, from the heights of Empire hailing Tyler Durden as The Greatest Movie Character of all Time [http://www.empireonline.com/100-greatest-movie-characters/default.asp?c=1] to coverage from uppity, narcissistic tossers who think people care about their opinions. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.147655]
Of course, with great movies comes great source material.
For those of you who have read Fight Club, Survivor, Choke and the others you may have noticed one small, tiny thing... They're all the same fucking book.
Chuck Palahniuk is a very gifted man, but he has a comfort zone roughly the size of a Rubik's cube. Somehow he manages to take diverse, original ideas and make them exactly the same each time. Despite this, they are still enjoyable. Just don't read them before bed.
Another thing I've noticed is that this is a Boys' Film. Women can enjoy it, and they do, but with barely any female presence in the film you get the impression that it joins the Shawshank Redemption in the club of films that Every Man Should Watch.
[HEADING=2]"This is how I met Tyler Durden."[/HEADING]
[small]Jack, mid flight[/small]
This piece is the closest thing we have to the voice of our generation.
The line "We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires and film stars and rock gods... But we won't" has never applied more than the over-televised times we live in. Also, the fact that Brad Pitt is saying it makes it so ironic you want to cry.
That, and every other line in this film, is designed to tap into the primitive parts of our brains saying "I should be hunting food for my family. I should be fashioning crude tools from the bones of my adversaries. I should be wondering why those boybands are wearing eyeliner.
But I'm not.
The film makes you consider what you are doing with your life. It's a refreshing, icy cockslap bringing you back down to the reality around you. It's a film for anyone who's ever looked at a celebrity magazine and thought "who gives a fuck who she's slept with this time?"
None of this would have been possible without a fantastic, well-cast group of actors.
We'll start with the big cheese, the head honcho and all the other metaphors for the focus of the film: Tyler Durden.
Brad Pitt, in a career defining role, gives us the man we want to be: a Handsome, chaotic, malevolently charming young man in his prime. More importantly, he has a plan.
It is a sublime performance by Pitt, from his sadistic laugh to his devil may care attitude he oozes charm and charisma in waves, coming at you like lumpy gravy.
The line "We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires and film stars and rock gods... But we won't" has never applied more than the over-televised times we live in. Also, the fact that Brad Pitt is saying it makes it so ironic you want to cry.
That, and every other line in this film, is designed to tap into the primitive parts of our brains saying "I should be hunting food for my family. I should be fashioning crude tools from the bones of my adversaries. I should be wondering why those boybands are wearing eyeliner.
But I'm not.
The film makes you consider what you are doing with your life. It's a refreshing, icy cockslap bringing you back down to the reality around you. It's a film for anyone who's ever looked at a celebrity magazine and thought "who gives a fuck who she's slept with this time?"
None of this would have been possible without a fantastic, well-cast group of actors.
We'll start with the big cheese, the head honcho and all the other metaphors for the focus of the film: Tyler Durden.
Brad Pitt, in a career defining role, gives us the man we want to be: a Handsome, chaotic, malevolently charming young man in his prime. More importantly, he has a plan.
It is a sublime performance by Pitt, from his sadistic laugh to his devil may care attitude he oozes charm and charisma in waves, coming at you like lumpy gravy.
Meet Jack.
Jack can't sleep.
Jack is trying to find warmth anywhere he can. Even if that means faking terminal illnesses.
It's a testament to Norton's performance that next to Pitt's eclectic anarchist you even notice him, but he's a strong presence throughout. It's entirely to his credit, having arguably the hardest role to play; he has to be whiny and pathetic, yet familiar enough for us to sympathise with his plight. Watching him in Fight Club and then in Hulk and you can't help but shudder.
Love is a pertinent theme in this film. A love triangle, to be precise. And this is how you'll meet Marla Singer.
She completes the love triangle between Tyler and Jack. This was before she became Tim Burton's shadow [footnote]I'm thinking of writing a letter to Tim listing male leads who decidedly aren't Johnny Depp, and films that maybe don't have to be about an eccentric outsider in a weird and wonderful world that isn't quite our own. But I digress.[/footnote] and was still an actress. Her American accent (Helena Bonham Carter herself being born in London) is absolutely flawless. She was deserving of an Oscar nomination for being somewhere between crazy and drug addled to tender and sweet all at the same time.
Speaking of accents, in that he doesn't in any way use one, we have rock legend and Rocky Horror Picture Show alumnus Meat Loaf Aday.
I've always though of Meat Loaf as the film's weak link. He's just not as powerful an actor next to the trio of Pitt, Norton and Bonham Carter but the character is an integral part of the film's storyline.
Bob is a broken man. He encapsulates everything Palahniuk wanted to say about the modern man. He has lost his testes to cancer and doesn't feel like a man. He's desperate, afraid and depressed. His character is a juxtaposition of every sentiment expressed in the film, making his death all the more poignant.
Also, you've got to feel for an actor who spends ten years losing weight, only to don a fat suit and ***** tits for his most major movie performance to date.
We also saw one of the first performances from 30 Seconds to Mars singer Jared Leto as the infamous Angel Face, later seen in the actually pretty excellent Lord of War.
[HEADING=2]"The lighting is perfect!" / "Perfect's okay, I guess."[/HEADING]
[small]
A report from a member of the crew, and Fincher's reaction.[/small]
So let's recap.
Great premise, great cast. All of this would have been for nothing if it wasn't for the director, David Fincher.
Like all of Fincher's films (Se7en, Zodiac uh... Alien3) all of his sets look like they could use a lick of paint. The death and decay on display give the entire Fight Club world a sense of lived-in character, one as prominent as the cast itself.
Every scene is given it's due reverence and love. Fincher's perfectionism is well documented (quote, above) and the dedication is truly on display here.
Every fight scene is shot with visceral flare, giving them a savage, primal quality.
The urban decay is a great contrast to the perfect, serene office environments. Somehow, Fincher makes us want to live in a decrepit house with no electricity over the tidy, polite office Jack works in any day of the week . The colour palettes contrast wildly, clearly defining what is ours and what is theirs.
And special mention goes to Jim Uhls's script, which gives us a beautiful adaptation of Palahniuk's source material; not sticking to the book with unseemly reverence and not wildly departing from it by giving Tyler Durden the ability to fly, or some other equally weird shit.
Don't tell me that couldn't have happened, we've all seen the fate of Constantine.
Another thing that could have gone horribly wrong is the humour. In no other film are themes like exposing minors to pornography and engaging strangers in violence funny. Without a deft hand at the camera and typewriter, this would have been a tasteless affair- destined to go to exploitation hell along with, let's face it, most of the 70's.
[HEADING=2] "You had to hand it to him, he had a plan..."[/HEADING]
[small]Jack, outside a convenience store[/small]
Chaos. Mayhem. Soap. Monkey Shaving.
The plot is a sublime mix of humour, rhetoric, philosophy and anarchy.
In no other film has a group of characters flitted between making soap and ritualistically scarring each other so seamlessly. Every event keeps you glued to your seat, either out of curiosity, humour value or sheer fascinated terror.
I won't go on and on about the plot, you've seen it and you don't need some poxy liverpudlian git reiterating it to you. I will simply leave it at this: it truly makes you ask the greater questions in life, like "if coke zero tastes the same as normal coke but is healthier then why do they keep selling normal coke?
What's important is that Jack is a character who has nothing to lose, but is still afraid to. He is the polar opposite to Durden, and maybe that's the point... ohhh, I feel spoilers coming on.
[HEADING=2]"We have just lost cabin pressure."[/HEADING]
[small]Jack, after coming to a strange conclusion...[/small]
Yes, I'm going to try and add balance to this cocktail of fanboy semen and hot, boiling joy by adding some cold and ugly facts to the mix.
Certain questions have to be asked, like "why does the third act feel so rushed and thrown together?". The whole film has a steady, deliberate pace so when Jack starts running around in his underwear the whole thing just seems so... out of character. There are some slapstick elements, even.
And, maybe a plot hole, did no one think that maybe blowing up buildings might be a little bit wrong?
Okay Durden is charismatic, but he's not Chuck Norris. Someone must have had some objections. Whether he talked them around or just plain killed them is left unexplained.
The film also suffers from a slight case of atrocious CGI.
The piece could have been timeless, but Fincher's fetishism for special effects (culminating in the NIN video for Only [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgt_WDjbO0o], 98% CGI) really strains it. Certain scenes like the opening pan shot of the building foundations and the penguin really show the film's age.
Interesting fact: The breath from Jack's mouth in the spirit cave are actually unused pieces of CGI from Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic that Fincher managed to buy for cheap.
While we're on the subject of computers, they made a fucking Fight Club game!?. Not only a game, but a beat 'em up? They really couldn't have conflicted more with the film's message if they tried.
And it's almost like they were.
Moving on. Some people have commented that Norton's voiceover throughout is monotonous and boring. In fairness, he is a lethargic character, but I can see where they are coming from.
Lastly, the worst thing that can be said about this film are, indeed, it's fans. Talking on and on about what it means and how it's affected them and how good it is... Hm, I'll file that one under "irony".
[HEADING=2]"On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everything drops to zero."[/HEADING]
[small]Jack, voiceover[/small]
Let us now, gentle reader, consider the ending.
If you have not seen this film, it is time to stop reading. No, seriously.
The ending is legendary. Mainly because of the fact that you don't feel cheated by such a cheap idea.
In any other film it would feel like a cop out. But it does make sense. Somehow it doesn't come across like an M. Night Shyamalan rug-pull. When you watch it a second time, and I can assure you that you will, it all slots together like an intricate jigsaw puzzle, almost clockwork in it's perfection.
But more interesting is the death of Tyler Durden.
I've heard quite a few theories on this.
Mine is that Tyler was created because Jack didn't have the drives to do anything by himself. A man sitting in a condo, decked out with meaningless trinkets watching sitcoms he didn't care about, slowly decaying one second at a time.
Once he was willing to give everything for a cause he didn't even know would work, once he proved that he was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice on an act of faith, he no longer needed Tyler. Jekyll kills Hyde.
The fact that I feel compelled to share my views with others for endless musing is the mark of a good, thoughtful ending.
The thing is that this did not happen in the novel. The book's ending was a little more ambiguous, culminating in Jack lying in hospital, the fate of Tyler largely unknown. Which brings me to a close by asking this: can an adaptation be better than the original? It's my personal opinion that in this, the rarest of cases, that yes it can.
In my opinion this is one of greatest films ever made. It's messages and views on life are poignant, and will be for a very long time to come.
Whether it shows you a world that you want to come to fruition, a dramatic example of what one truly dedicated man is capable of or even a film that disgusted you with it's agenda- it cannot be denied that it's a powerful, moving piece.
So, my final thought? How can I shove my usual half-baked philosophy down your throat this time, I hear you ask? Well, I won't, I'll leave it to a wordsmith much more qualified than myself.
[HEADING=2]"My God, I haven't been fucked like that since grade school!"[/HEADING][small]Marla Singer. She didn't want to fall asleep.[/small]
A line that sums up the film. A punchy, daring, darkly hilarious line that could be taken the wrong way, but the film doesn't care if it is.
A line that, I might add, was not in the book.
[/penis]
___________________________________________________________________________________
Can't sleep? Me either.
Film: The Departed [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.149527] / Star Trek 2009 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.149058#3470961] / A review of Love Happens (Without seeing it first) [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.148846#3460365] / Inglourious Basterds [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.147977#3420043] / Fight Club Essay [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.147655#3403751] / District 9 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.147097#3373011]
Game: Resident Evil 4 Retrospective [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.148447#3440710] / Mass Effect [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.145571#3296970] / Final Fantasy: Dissidea [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.144913#3266704] / Metal Gear Solid Twin Snakes [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.140353#3149506] / Far Cry 2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.139317#3129015] / Street Fighter IV [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.136868#3079685]
Other: A review of My Cat [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.146281#3332788]
Game: Resident Evil 4 Retrospective [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.148447#3440710] / Mass Effect [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.145571#3296970] / Final Fantasy: Dissidea [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.144913#3266704] / Metal Gear Solid Twin Snakes [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.140353#3149506] / Far Cry 2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.139317#3129015] / Street Fighter IV [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.136868#3079685]
Other: A review of My Cat [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.146281#3332788]
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