I myself would simply hate having to break
the first two rules about Fight Club but it must be done when talking about one
of the all-time greatest films. Not only is the story and characters brilliant
in this film but so is about every other aspect of the film whether it be the
acting, writing, directing, realism or the complexity and layers of the story.
What shocks me most about Fight Club is how much I hated it last time that I
saw it.
Edward Norton stars in this film as an
unnamed narrator whose life has been a struggle since he suffers from insomnia.
As a way to discover real pain, Norton begins to attend sessions of testicular
cancer and just as he is recovering, once more crosses paths with another
imposter named Marla Singer. This causes him to suffer from insomnia once more
but when he meets Brad Pitt’s Tyler Durden he comes to start a fight club with
him which eventually leads into an underground revolution.
The performances in this film are jaw
dropping in my eyes, especially by Ed Norton who perfectly portrays that
endearing side to him and makes you like the character. His performance is an
absolute gem following the brilliance of him from American History X. He shows
his frustrations and hopes perfectly and is able to portray a growing friendship
with Tyler Durden. However, Ed Norton is not alone in terms of acting. His
brilliant performance is rivalled by Brad Pitt who does an incredible job
playing a dangerous yet a likeable man. These two do a fantastic performance
and elevate the overall quality of the film. Even others, such as Helena Bonham
Carter do a great job in this film.
The story is brilliant and clever and
completely fresh and unique but there is so much more to Fight Club than what
many estimate. Whilst people assume it’s a film about fighting, it most
certainly isn’t. It is such a deep film that explores the depth of characters
and portrays violence, reality and even elements such as psychology absolutely
brilliantly. The plot twist in the film is definitely one of the greatest of
all time and completely shocked me even after re-watching it. Yet, the plot
twist is most necessary to the film and further explores our protagonist’s
character. A brilliant and deeply moving story doesn’t mean much if the
characters aren’t interesting, thankfully they were!
Tyler Durden is one of the greatest
characters of all time and it isn’t too much of a surprise that he is ranked #1
on Empire’s Top 100 movie characters. He is clever, charming and violent yet
friendly for the most part. His character and the way he develops throughout
the film is incredibly presented, starting off as just an everyday friend and
eventually becoming an underground revolutionary leader who becomes all about
destruction. Even other characters, such as Marla Singer are fantastic and her
relationship with Tyler is perfectly presented in the film. Never does it feel
unrealistic or an attempt to appeal to female movie goers but keeps it in
perfect context with the film. Other supporting characters, even those such as
Meat Loaf’s Bob are great and add quite a lot of emotion to the story.
David Fincher had a horrible directorial
start with Alien3 but was able to start off scrap with Se7en by
providing such a dark, gritty yet realistic take on a crime mystery. From
there, he was able to provide a similar tone to Fight Club and gave everything
from Se7en into Fight Club whether it be the story, writing or directing which
were all fantastic in this film. His direction and storytelling is brilliant
and the the dialogue is so memorable. However, despite brilliant directing I
cannot help but feel that the pacing of the film is relatively slow early on
despite the interesting premise and endearing characters. Thankfully, this is a
minor issue considering that the ending and overall story by the end makes you
completely forget that the film was ever slow.
Fight Club is indeed a masterpiece and it
is indeed, now one of my all time favourite films. Whether it’s the characters,
story, writing and directing, musical score or the overall complexity and
realism of the film, Fight Club is near perfection providing some jaw dropping
performances and one of the all time greatest plot twists.
Grade- 10/10
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