CULT DVD Review

 Fight Club

 Overall: 92% 

 Feature: 93.5%   (2 reviews)

 Extras: 90%

 Top 1000 Disc

Fight Club (1999) (Blu-Ray)

 

This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time....

 

Despite having some notable titles lodged under his directorial belt with “Aliens 3”, “The Game” and the critically acclaimed “Seven” the majority of Hollywood’s audience knew very little about film maker David Fincher in 1999. At this time he was better known for his contributions to the world of Music having worked with Madonna, Aerosmith and Michael Jackson however, the genre from which his reputation was to be assembled was about to change.

As “Fight Club” hit the big screen it became clear that it was this film that would confirm what his previous offerings had hinted and this tale of Soap, Mischief and Mayhem would soon cement Fincher's place in modern film history.

The complex nature of Fight Club can prevent the weekend film critic from placing it in a particular genre which often leads to inaccurate associations and erroneous assumptions about the films premise. Yes it's a film about one mans war against a society that desperately swills from a flood of pedicured advertising campaigns and commercial promises, a fight against his own materialistic existence but its about so much more. It’s about finding yourself, finding your place, it’s about anger and anarchy, it’s about hopelessness and perhaps most importantly it’s about hope.

Edward Norton plays one of the lead roles and unlike nearly all other films the characters true identity is never revealed as he talks us through his world. He uses several aliases for a very good reason, his character could be anyone or everyone, this character, Jack as he is occasionally referred, could be "You or I".The film centres round Norton's character, our narrator, who although seemingly aware of the tedium it creates has bought into the “American Dream”. He has everything he is told he needs but nothing of importance and ultimately he is deeply unhappy in what he believes to be a mundane existence. His sarcastic view of the world and the despondency to which he goes through his own life lays the foundations early on for the dark humour that underpins this story.

Through the office job that he hates and his chronic insomnia, Jack meets the other two leads of the film, Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter) who play, in essence, his nemesis, his lover, his best friend, his counter-point and his conscience. All three actors give remarkable performances throughout and for a film so far removed from reality they make it easy to invest in the narrative as they are all very believable in their parts.

Jack and Marla's relationship stems round a common need to live through lies of despair and depression which they vent at therapy groups for the sick and terminally ill. Both have their own and drastically different reasons for creating this grim façade and after an unlikely pairing and a love / hate relationship they each find something in the other that gives rise to a little bit of hope that neither knew existed.

Tyler comes into Jacks life as a “Single Serving Friend” on one of his many employer sponsored, will sapping flights across the United States. A truly bizarre set of circumstances reach a climax with the explosive destruction of Jacks apartment which acts as a catalyst for Tyler Durden to be welcomed into his life. They quickly become friends, house mates, business associates and go on to setup the underground bare fisted Fight Club from which the film is named.

The film flirts with a brutal portrayal of violence, setting an aggressive tone and perhaps falsely confirming what many of the viewers thought this film was all about. These Fight Clubs create an anti-establishment cult following of recently liberated blue collar professionals and the movie quickly spins into a glorious depiction of complete social abandonment and anarchic corruption from which the rest of the film leaps.

The film is strengthened by a great supporting cast lead by none other than Meatloaf and Jarred Leto who as part of Jack and Tyler's nihilistic cavalcade and as a result of Fight Clubs expansion into dissidence are now orchestrating calculated chaos across the city under the collective name of “Project Mayhem”.

As ferocious and violent as this movie can be it is not without its humor and it does not lack empathy, this is a film that captures imaginations but is certainly not without its philosophical morals. Although the depicted ideals can be provocative it does not distract from the films overall feel and this is a movie you can sit down and enjoy for what it is, the special effects are stunning, they are stylistic and unlike anything of its time, the delivery of the dialogue is outstanding and taken from a darkly clever script, quite simply it's a hugely entertaining 139 minutes.

What makes this film stand out is that most people want to watch it a second or third time immediately after it's finished, it leaves you almost breathless in its conclusion and with fragments of puzzles to solve in the days to come.

The soundtrack is another high point which, for the most part, has been provided by the dance / rock crossover act the Dust Brothers. The music fits perfectly and no more so when we reach the finale with The Pixies asking "Where is My Mind".

Based on the short novel by Chuck Palahniuk this film perhaps doesn't say anything new but it says it in a way that makes these ideas more accessible and delivers them with more of a punch (excuse the pun) than I have seen before. If you are looking for a film that has pace, action, twists and a great story then this is one to watch………

……..and then watch it again.

 

The Extras

The first thing woth a mention is the subtle prank created by David Fincher. As the title screen loads Drew Barrymore and the “Never Been Kissed” Main Menu brightly fills the screen, it does this just long enough for your to think “What the……” before merging into the stylishly annimated title menu you would expect from your purchase.

Drew Barrymore’s agreement was saught and her shiny, teen “rom-com” that shared a 1999 relase date was used in this glimpse of “Fincher Irony” as it was considered to be the starkest contrast to the look, feel and content of Fight Club.

Anyway, back to the real “Extras”, these special features we have become acustomed to since movies were digitaly sent to our screens by way of optical laser.

If you read the back of the blu-ray box you will find a list not dissimilar to the following: -

· A Hit in the Ear: The Sound Design of Fight Club

· A look behind the scenes

· An interactive experience to the user to mix the sounds of scenes from the movie.

· Insomnia Mode: I am Jack's search Index

· Cast and Crew commentaries

This list, if anything, under sells this presentation as we have all of this and much more. They have wheeled in about half a dozen cast and crew for this, including Chuck Palahniuk and although some dialogue exchange may seem obscure and unrelated much of the content is certainly worth it and you may have to watch the movie four or five times to get catch it all.

The “Hit in the Ear” interview is worthy of note and gives you an insight into the work required to create the feel and sound of a movie, those simple effects that you take for granted can be so complex and the efforts involved in reaching an end product definitely surpass the expected. Within this there is a sound mixing segment which will be an attractive feature for those interested in the mechanics and the anatomy of a scene.

The Insomnia mode is quite simply a vast search index that takes you anywhere you could want to go in the film and the numerous multi audio / angle behind the scenes and special effects clips are well put together and comprehensive.

A highlight is the humourous “Flogging Fight Club” extra that shows Fincher, Pitt and Norton backstage at the Spike TV Awards improvising and scripting their acceptance speech.

On top of all of this you have a music video, TV spots, trailers, art work and story boards. There is even a transcribed copy of a post release Edward Norton interview. The disc really has just about everything.

Even without listening to all the commentaries you could lose hours and still not have seen everything on offer.

This is what Blu-Ray promised us when they boasted Special Features.

 

FEATURE: 97%

EXTRAS: 90%

OVERALL: 95%

A stylish, contemporary drama that provides us with a remarkable if not distorted view of the world and one mans passage through confusion, love, lust and conformity. Favorite Quote: “I want you to hit me as hard as you can”

Alan Whitfield

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