Fight Club is a 1999 American film directed by David Fincher
and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. It is based on
the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. Norton plays the unnamed
narrator, who is discontented with his white-collar job. He forms a "fight
club" with soap salesman Tyler Durden (Pitt), and becomes embroiled in a
relationship with him and a destitute woman, Marla Singer (Bonham Carter). One
of David Fincher's works that could be said to be "Controversial" was
released on September 21, 1999. This film managed to become one of the most
popular films of the decade if it did not become the most popular film of all
time. Some like it, some are looking down on this film. Whatever opinion is
given to this film, David Ficher's work has obtained something that can be
called "Cult Followings". David Fincher adapted a book by Chuck
Palahniuk entitled Fight Club (1996) and made it a script whose adaptation
could be said to have succeeded in capturing the material and values of his book
and also giving interpretations from David Fincher himself.
Palahniuk's novel was optioned by Fox 2000 Pictures producer
Laura Ziskin, who hired Jim Uhls to write the film adaptation. Fincher was
selected because of his enthusiasm for the story. He developed the script with
Uhls and sought screenwriting advice from the cast and others in the film
industry. He and the cast compared the film to Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and
The Graduate (1967), with a theme of conflict between Generation X and the
value system of advertising. Fincher used the homoerotic overtones of
Palahniuk's novel to make audiences uncomfortable and keep them from
anticipating the twist ending.
Studio executives did not like the film, and they
restructured Fincher's intended marketing campaign to try to reduce anticipated
losses. Fight Club failed to meet the studio's expectations at the box office
and received polarized reactions from critics. It was cited as one of the most
controversial and talked-about films of 1999. The Guardian saw it as an omen
for change in American political life and described its visual style as
ground-breaking. The film later found commercial success with its DVD release,
establishing Fight Club as a cult classic and causing media to revisit the
film. On the tenth anniversary of the film's release, The New York Times dubbed
it the "defining cult movie of our time."
I’ll start my review on this movie by stating that the film
"Fight Club" seems threatening to some people because it seems to
challenge the values and security that already exist in the modern world.
This film shows a graphic that is very visual, brutal and anarchic. Anarchist
is a very thick value in this film, about life without order to do what we want
without being bound by the values that have been applied in this modern world
trying everything that has never been tried in this world. The theme that runs
in this film is about how modern society has transformed society more
specifically men into creatures that are sucked into the small things in their
work at the company also become creatures that depend on the products offered
by large companies and understand - understand like materialism that dominates.
People very often underestimate some people because their jobs, such as
drivers, garbage collectors, restaurant employees and valet guards are trapped
in their lives that are just like that and do not realize some of their
important roles in our daily lives.
This film tells the story of an unnamed narrator in the film
played by Edward Norton. He is an employee at a car company who suffers from
insomnia due to work pressures in this modern world which is full of binding
values and opposes actions which are considered 'anarchist'. He decided to
overcome his insomnia problem by joining a support group and pretending to
suffer from a different illness every day until he met Marla Singer played by
Helena Bonham Carter. Marla's presence was very disturbing and damaging to the
narrator's activities because he joined the support group with the reason to
get free coffee and just spend time. The narrator who cannot stand the presence
of Marla finally invites him to schedule attendance at a support group so that
they do not meet each other, and they exchange phone numbers if one of them
wants to change their schedule. When returning home from the office and
boarding the plane, the narrator met with someone named Tyler Durden, played by
Brad Pitt, a soapmaker salesman who seemed to be almost the opposite of the
narrator's persona.
After engaging in an interesting chat, Tyler gave his card.
When he arrived at the narrator's apartment, he was surprised to see his
apartment destroyed by a mysterious explosion that suddenly occurred. This
incident led him to contact Tyler to meet at the bar, then Tyler invited him to
stay at his house temporarily. Tyler turns out to produce soap traditionally.
He made soap using the main ingredient from liposuction from human fat taken
from hospital waste. Soap products sell well in the market. Tyler then taught
him to make soap, make bombs, and eventually founded Fight Club, a fighting
club that the narrator realized had the same effect as attending a support group.
The narrator's meeting truly changes almost all aspects of
the narrator's life, Fight Club which started as a club to release emotions by
beating each other over time and developing new branches around the world and
Tyler as the dreamer began to apply values and rules against modernization in
the world by running Project Mayhem, an anti-establishment organization whose
members are from the Fight Club. Project Mayhem which aims to carry out acts of
vandalism throughout the world in order to erase the values of this modern
world which Tyler considers damaging the meaning of his real life. The actions
carried out by Project Mayhem gradually began to make the narrator start to
counter Tyler's plans.
This film has a storyline that can be called linear but
still makes the viewers wonder what will happen next even when they are
repelled by what is happening in front of them. The narrator in this film often
faces watching and talking also sometimes this film is 'fully aware' that this
is a film that is shown in theatres, making Fight Club a very meta
(self-referential) film. This film always makes the audience surprised both in
terms of jokes that aired or conversations that the characters in the film talk
about. In my opinion this film gets "One of the best ending scenes of all
time" the combination of music and scenes that are displayed is perfect,
the first time I watched this film the final scene was really about feeling
really, the feels, starting from the beginning of the music playing at background
to the end of the film.
This movie rates as one of my all-time favourite movies and,
simply put, if you haven't seen it yet then I would appreciate if you would
give his movie a try and feel open up to give your opinion through your
experience watching this movie.
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