Director: David Fincher
Starring: Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter
Year: 1999
There have been so many perfect, on-screen duos, either just as a team or as a love interest, that it would be impossible to sort them all out, but I have to imagine that the pairing of Ed Norton and Brad Pitt would be near the top of my list. Both are so talented, so different, were both in their prime in Fight Club, and compliment each other so expertly in what would become one of the most memorable films in cinematic history. Fight Club isn’t just a book or an adaptation or a movie or a story or a twist, it’s a wake up call; and it also happens to be a magnificently directed piece of art. Not many can boast so much, and that’s why it’s so highly regarded, even twenty years later. It’s a plot to change the game and a cast to knock you dead; something special was created and we’re all just lucky to have witnessed it.
We don’t need our apartments and our jobs and our cars and our duvets; we can live without them, and probably should. When you hit rock bottom, you can finally spring upwards towards a higher place, a level from which you can see much more clearly. So it is with our hero, the main character, after his apartment is blown to hell and he moves in with a random guy named Tyler Durden whom he met on a plane. Tyler is squatting in an abandoned building, is something of an amateur terrorist on capitalism, but seems to understand the world in a way that most people simply can’t. The duo begin fighting each other, just because they can, or to feel manly and alive, who knows. But it sparks a movement of the dejected and pathetic, a revolution of men who have had enough and want to watch it all burn so that something better can rise from the ashes.
That’s a vague description, but you’ve probably seen this movie, or at least have a general knowledge of it, and if somehow you’ve been living under a rock, well I wouldn’t want to give too much away. The mystery of the story, its twisted twist, it half the fun, though the other half simply lies in the slow abandonment of civility for a much meaner existence that is somehow much more fulfilling. There are morals to be learned from this film, but there’s also basic, bloody entertainment as well, which is what makes it so great. You can watch for Brad Pitt without his shirt, Ed Norton acting his ass off, the reveal at the end, or just because you like chaos; there are many reasons to tune in. But there’s even more; the music, the mood, the dimness, the desperate insomnia, the clever moments, the classic lines, the squad of characters, the ultimate meaning. Fight Club is Fincher’s very best, and one of the better films of the last 25 years, a true masterpiece with real wit and a thousand reasons to watch.
My rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆