JohnDoe
Bryn
BrentonFight Club (1999) - Trailer Included
November 22nd 2007 00:01
Bare Knuckle Head Job
Special Edition DVD cover available in Australia
Writer: Chuck Palahniuk and Jim Uhls
Starring: Ed Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter, Jared Leto, Meat Loaf
"Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off." - Tyler Durden
Gripping the tendrils of the nervous system, what could be described as intellectual, experimental cinema in the guise of an action blockbuster is already a cult classic because of its wisdom. Observing the paradoxes of western values and the inability to curtail our primal nature, the complex screenplay avoids depression instead dosing the amphetamine pill with a macabre, sardonic humour.
Splitting the skull and dissecting the modern male mystique, Fight Club challenges the senses with dazzling visceral energy. A philosophical examination of the mutilation of nature versus nurture, as mankind has evolved Darwin’s survival of the fittest has been replaced with survival of the financially wealthy.
In the film our nameless narrator (Ed Norton) has descended into a walking dead state of chronic insomnia and compulsive Ikea nesting rituals. Teetering on madness, seeking enlightenment he embarks on a unique form of spiritual therapy. Attending support groups for the most devastating and frightening of fatal diseases in an attempt to gain perspective by interacting with doomed psyches.
"It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything." - Tyler Durden
Embracing desperation, you are never more aware of the value of life than when facing death, experiencing pain. Clawing his way to sanity the tenuous hold on reality is annihilated by the arrival of melancholy temptress, Marla Singer (Helen Bonham Carter).
"If I did have a tumor, I'd name it Marla." - Narrator
Still managing to keep his day job as a risk assessment field officer for the auto industry our narrator travels the country along the way fate draws him to a kindred soul in the form of Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt).
Gregarious and outgoing, Tyler is a super cool soap salesman whose primary urge is anarchy. Disgusted at a world that seeks to define itself by personal accumulation of materialistic rewards, Tyler’s confidence is unwavering.
"Did you know that if you mix equal parts of gasoline and frozen orange juice concentrate you can make napalm?" - Tyler Durden
Then one night after a few beers he asks for a simple favour, “I want you to hit me as hard as you can.” This event triggers a cataclysmic revolution that will be known as “Fight Club” and soon it will spread to disenchanted, misdirected men everywhere.
"I felt like destroying something beautiful." - Narrator
Do you know Tyler Durden?
John Doe says:
Misinterpreted as a celebration of violence and anarchy, instead Fight Club is a cynically optimistic quest for identity, psychoanalysing like Sigmund Freud in a snakeskin jacket. It’s a cry for help that reveals the futility of destruction, corporate dictatorship and the harrowing price of idealistic self belief in an individuality that deems us special by design, instead of definition by our actions.
The technical savvy of Director David Fincher (Se7en, The Game, Zodiac) skilfully adapts Chuck Palahniuk’s ferocious original novel into a volatile convergence of image and sound. Boldly employing subliminal frames to manipulate the subconscious and gradually warp the mind. Accomplishing an atmosphere of cinematic Armageddon, it’s a manic chaos that never descends into mayhem.
The comprehension of the subject by the cast and crew translates to the screen.
Diving into the cerebellum for the opening credits, the plot requires constant revaluation and is always in flux. Confusion is curtailed through inventive cinematography and precision editing using state of the art processes.
The sounds of pounding flesh mixed to the vibes of synthetic rhythm from the Dust Brothers are completed by multi dimensional audio cues that Shepard the viewer into a twisting labyrinth of symbolic quandaries and genius resolution.
Each scene serves an important purpose as the enthralling breadcrumbs are nailed within the structure by the big bad wolf. The often discussed finale will not be ruined by John Doe, though many films since have attempted to replicate its clever illusions.
Edward Norton (American History X, 25th Hour) again proves his versatility, shunning the traditional approach to tap into raw emotions that can have you laughing at the same time feeling sympathy and sorrow.
Brad Pitt (Kalifornia, 12 Monkeys, True Romance, Snatch) has determinedly avoided the male bimbo roles cultivating an image that opposes his superficial appeal. Cleverly as Tyler Durden he brings the gossip columns baggage and movie star charisma of his presence and in the context of the films subtext turns it to satire. His hyper active performance becomes the inverse of Ed Norton’s sullen, withdrawn isolation.
Matching the non clichéd characterisations of the boys, Helena Bonham Carter is every bit as unique and obtuse as Marla Singer. Tragically tender her mischievous portrayal makes her weirdo empathetic but also frustrating.
“I am John Doe’s complete lack of surprise”, this film bombed on initial release and was crucified by most critics. Idiots like Rosie O Donnell failed to see past the surface and instead opted to spoil the ending on national TV.
Now, less than a decade later the film has proved to be influential and praised as arguably the quintessential cultural postcard to the new millennium. In one hundred years when history books observe this generation, few artistic endeavours have mined the age with such depth.
The comedy works because of the honesty behind it, the sometimes diabolical devices of the story are necessary, not just compensating for a lack of substance. There is a truth in the narrative that speaks to those born after 1970 and could never be understood by a geriatric mindset.
It’s the Easier Rider of today, effectively aimed at youthful seekers and alienating those who have not adjusted to the current state of our world.
See one of the many ingenious promotional trailers below
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