Fight Club [Blu-ray] [1999]

The first time I saw this movie , when I got to the end, I wanted to go back to the beginning and watch it all over again. The plot twist at the end, blows your mind. It is a metaphor for the ages. This was then and is now and always will be my favorite movie. Highly recommend. One of Brad Pitt‘s greatest movies and it made Edward Norton my favorite actor as well.

Great movie

Fight Club is my favorite movie. For years my favorite movie was Terry Gilliam's Brazil, but Fight Club has managed to remove it from the mantle and take it's place as what I consider to be the finest film ever made. Not to quote the infamous line from the movie, but you truly cannot tell a person about Fight Club. It's like The Matrix, it's a film better seen the first time knowing nothing about. Even better if you go into it with misperceived notions of what the movie's about, so you can be proved wrong. I think the only problem with the movie is that it was meant to be seen on the Big screen. It uses certain camera tricks and techniques that were meant to enhance the theatrical experience. I fear that anyone seeing this movie for the first time at home will not take from it everything that the theatrical experience provided. So...for a proper viewing of this film...PLEASE follow the following rules: 1) be relaxed. be ready and in the right state of mind to sit back and watch a long film. It's NOT like watching "The Thin Red Line", but it is an involved film that will require your patients and attention 2) remove all distraction. Go to the bathroom, unplug the phone, and be settled to watch a great movie 3) turn off the lights, you'll like the movie a lot better in darkness...it's a very dark film and you'll need darkness to see everything 4) if you didn't like it...wait two weeks and watch it again. For a movie review: It is difficult to talk about the film without ruining it. I first saw the preview for it when I went to see The Phantom Menace. It was part of a Fox set of previews. I saw a bunch of guys fighting and a bar of soap. I thought, "Is this like that lame Van Damme movie Lionheart? No thanks." In fact none of the previews made me want to see it. Months later, after it's release, I heard a radio add for the film. The add sparked a little interest in me because it involved the reading three scathing reviews by critics and one positive review. I thought it was very ballsy of them to release those adds, but I still didn't go see the movie. The next week I was away in upstate New York on a job interview. I was flown there from California and had nothing to do on Thursday night in the tiny town that I was staying in. They had an impressive movie theater, so I thought I'd unwind from my 10 hour interview by taking a film in. When I arrived at the theater, Fight Club was just starting, so I bought a ticket on a whim (even though I really didn't like Lionheart very much). I walked out of that film with my mind buzzing. I had just enjoyed one of the most incredible theatrical experiences I had been through in a very long time. As soon as I go back to San Diego I took three friends to see the movie. I was so excited for them to see it and to hear their reaction. I Needed someone to talk about the film with. After the movie, and for the entire ride home in the car, no one said a word. I thought to myself "Oh no! They hate me for making them see this movie." Finally all three broke the silence and thanked me for taking them to one of the best movies they've ever seen. I saw that movie 4 times in the theater, because I wanted all of my friends to see it. Some loved it, some hated it, some didn't get it...but all were happy they saw it. I don't want to give away any of the movie. I'll just warn you that you'll like it or you'll hate it. Either way, you should see it. If you have no opinion about it...you need to learn to think a bit more critically about your world and the art that you see, because this is a film that you should have an opinion about. As for the DVD, like the Seven DVD, David Fincher packs it full of goodies and commentaries that make it a worthwhile purchase. Finally, you can make a great Trilogy if you watch three movies in this order. First watch American Beauty, then Fight Club, and finally Office Space. All three films have similar messages told in very different ways. Watch Office Space last, because the first two films are so heavy, you might need a little comedy to lighten your mood. Warning: watching these three films may make you quit your tedious job/life and go look for something more fulfilling in the world.

Fight Club (1999) Drama, 139 minutes Directed by David Fincher Starring Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter Why do I like Fight Club? It seems to suggest that violence and anarchy are good things, but that's certainly not something I believe. I think it comes down to the dark comedy and the strong script, coupled with excellent performances from Norton and Pitt. This is a cool world to experience, but I wouldn't want to live in it. The story seems perfectly traditional at first. We see Norton on a plane. He's referred to as The Narrator in the credits and seems to think of himself as Jack. He encounters Tyler Durden (Pitt) and takes his business card. Jack returns home to find that there's been an explosion in his apartment, so he calls Durden and eventually asks to stay at his house for a while. Durden is a cheerful, carefree lunatic who wants Jack to punch him. The two fight on the street and decide to recruit members and form Fight Club, believing that it's an expression of freedom. Jack spends his free time visiting support groups. We see him hugging people with testicular cancer and all manner of diseases. He enjoys letting his inhibitions go and listening to the members speak about their illnesses. After a while, he becomes aware of Marla (Helena Bonham Carter). Like him, she's a tourist visiting the various support groups. He confronts her and they agree to attend different classes. Durden encourages Jack to stop trying to live up to the expectations of other people. As a result, Jack becomes more assertive. He challenges the authority of his boss and stops worrying about his appearance and the latest IKEA catalog. He regularly shows up for work with fresh cuts and bruises. Jack finds that he enjoys his new image. One thing he doesn't like is Durden forming a relationship with Marla. Fight Club is set in a gritty world and makes the viewer feel unclean while watching it. Fincher is good at creating unsettling worlds and this one is similar to those found in The Game and Se7en. Durden's house appears derelict and the neighborhood is seedy. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that Durden has a purpose for starting Fight Club. The recruits are assigned tasks to disrupt society and members can come from any occupational background. It's like a secret society. Fight Club contains a major twist and I won't reveal it for those who haven't ever seen the movie. The twist elevates the movie to a different level. Subsequent viewings are enhanced because you'll notice little details you may have missed the first time. It's clever how everything ties together. The ending annoys some viewers, but it works perfectly for me. The final sequence is set to one of my favorite Pixies' songs and is probably my favorite scene in the entire movie. Although it's not an action movie, Fight Club is a pure adrenaline rush. From the opening credits set to the pounding beat of the Dust Brothers, it rarely lets up until the relative calm of the closing scene. I'm enjoying this project and got more out of Fight Club on yesterday's viewing than I ever have before. Just don't go out and copy the behavior it depicts.

I usually buy 4K UHD Blu-ray’s , but they haven’t put out Fight Club in that format yet. But as far as the quality of this disc goes, it’s top notch. The image quality of the movie is great, as is the audio. It looked and sounded great on my cheap 4k TV and surround system. The menu is also something that’s really well done. There’s a fake out that literally made me think I got the wrong disc, and then the menu itself has a really nice animation. If you like this movie, and you should as David Fincher is one of the greatest directors ever, I highly recommend this to own.

I only watched because my granddaughter wanted to watch. I had already seen it but she’s a Brad Pitt fan and wanted to watch. The movie is a good movie the first time and granddaughters liked it!

WARNING. THIS REVIEW GIVES END OF FILM AWAY. Critics and viewers who think this is about getting your macho up miss the point. So do those who think this is a "violent" film. Fight Club is really about personal liberation, and genius that osolates into insanity. Ed Norton's no name character is living a banal, materialistic yuppie life. He has no friends, no gal, and his possessions define him. Low and behold, he can't sleep. Our hero first seeks refuge in support groups and new age mush. He goes to meetings for diseases and addicitions he does not have. He is a "tourist," and at first, a very sound sleeping one. Until he meets Marla, fellow tourist. Marla is much better at this game than he is. She is also alot more crazy, or liberated, or both. She walks in traffic, realizing life can end any moment. She outwits her rival tourist, and soon, he is back to sleepless square one. Soon, he meets Tyler. Tyler has no use for material objects, but has as much distain for the touchy feely, microwave sensativity alter-exisistance of our protagonist. Tyler beleives in living in the moment, which requires shedding of all attachments, physical and mental. "It is only when you have lost everything," he says, "that you are free to do anything" How does one get here? The two start an underground, secret fight club, where other young men with similar plights can go and box, with total abandon. Eventually, this grows, to the edge of sanity. Soon, boxing is found to be only a means to an end--stripping ones self down to primal instincts and being truely alive. Between bouts, Tyler starts a fling with Marla. But even fighting and worrier simplicity is not enough; the fight club decides to spread the gospel, and devise a plan to blow up several financial institutions, wiping out credit records and thus the whole base of materialistic capitalism, which, fight club members would say, binds us all into emotional sleep in pursuit of $300 neckties and Dolche Gabana armpit razors. Fair enough, but anarchy was not what our narrator intended--all the guy was really trying to do was get some sleep--and he sets out to stop Tyler from executing his master plan. Only one problem: Tyler does not exist. This raises one of several major points in the film. Our hero did not feel he could make such big changes on his own, and sets up an alter-ego, which is really his ideal self--all the things he aspires to be and can't. This sounds insane, but to a degree, we all have a fantasy about doing what we want when we want, saying what crosses our mind, and being free from the demons-material, social, and psycological- that stop us from being ourselves. Usually, we see our ideal selves as another person, devorced from us. Now, if we believe our heros version of events, he has gone quite mad, but on another level his madness is genius. We all have this internal process. He just externalized it, and probably came closer to getting free form his chains then most of us will. Where does personal liberation end and anarchy begin? Good question, and isn't it the fear of stepping over the line that stop most of us from finding out. Which is scarrier--staying how we are or wading into the forbidden zone? I don't know. Fight Club makes more keen social comments. When our hereo begins to let go of his yuppie lifestyle and begins his 12-step programs, he is only trading one costume for another. The film is as critical of the 'lets cry and find our power animal' psudo-psychology that has infested out culture as it is the crass materialism it replaces. It is like the alcoholic who goes to AA, and this replaces the liqour as the base for his or her identity. The violence in Fight Club is really not violence as we think of it. Everyone fighting wants to be there, and the intent of the fighting is collective liberation, not to do harm to another. It is a means to an end: with other characters, the boxing could have been pottery or fly fishing. So it is difficult to be upset by this "violence" when you consider its unique roll in the story. Two other points about violence stand out: First, the one time he takes a fight to far and disfigures a fellow member, it is at a point in the film where he is about to go over the edge; a turning point. Second, yes, empty skyscrapers are blown up at the end of Fight Club. But remember, this was two years before September 11th. We knew in the back of our minds a large scale terrorist attack was possible, but our biggest focus in 1999 was how much the NASDAQ went up each day; this was a very different time. America was partying. No one knew the unthinkable would happen soon, so you really can't say, retroactively, that the destruction in the film was in bad taste. Regardless, Fight Club is a funny, entertaining, thought provoking film, its points much more nuanced than the title and fight scenes indicate.

UPDATED REVIEW 16/01/2013 One of the best movies ever made: An exercise in "visual philosophy", using all technical resources to illustrate and narrate a mental imaginary and machinations based plotline. Fight Club is a fable of the id, ego, and super ego interacting, to revive the main character ("Jack) from his stupor. This lethargy and detachment from his bodily needs and id instincts, prevents him to sleep and mate. His sexual drive and need for love have been channeled into consumerism. He buys things he doesn't need compulsively, to escape his misery without success. The solutions he (or his psyche segments) comes up with are evolutionary, but basically of the same substance he longs and aches for to awaken him from this lethargy. He starts off visiting shockingly bleeding heart -support groups. Used to the corporate politically correct, neutral and aseptic dialogues, this candidness rattles him up towards vitality, recognizing his own humanity, enlightening the steps to come in the path. Nirvana is his desired path, the path at the very core of all human being that looks for religion, drugs or any perception of god or what is beyond words and things, and ultimately that ghost inside us. His Id/super ego is Tyler Durden. He shows him how to escape from fear. That fear that drove him to drown himself into things, in work and vapid banality. Then there comes the Fight Club. "Fight club wasn't about winning or losing. It wasn't about words." Says Jack. It is not about violence in the sense of hurting someone else out of anger, I would add. Jack is detached from the animal we are, that eats, defecates, has sex and breathes. Jack is detached from the caveman we have been for thousands of years, that "evolved" men despise, but is rooted in our DNA. Jack is an extreme case of the dangers of excessive consumerism, individuality and materialism of our culture. Jack fears loosing (a fight, his job, anything that threatens his ego or causes him pain) and longs for human contact and intimacy. Searching for a relationship is a big stretch. Baby steps, the support group first. Then fighting furnishes him with all this. I would like to address the movie's critics like Robert Ebert, who fail to seize the zeitgeist and how fight club relates and how the violence is tangential. The story is about a very particular individual with a very common pathology who seeks a very unorthodox solution in a very dire, desperate situation. This masterpiece exercises and puts forth "visual philosophy", displaying what would be a modern version of Zen enlightenment exercises or Koans. There is no doctor that treats greed and Ikea fetishes. This dude is on his own. He needs to get in touch with his masculinity and loose the fear at the root of all fears, the fear of death, and so do the other attendees of the Fight Club. Fighting is a start; the fear of physical harm is in the same line. Guys don't go to Fight Club to win, everyone is a winner, because the target is to unload the burden of fear. If you desensitize yourself to the fear of punches and blood, abstract fear triggers, as being fired diminish by contrast. Our culture is plagued with fears of the unknown, the what ifs that blocks us from taking risks that could change or enhance our life. Tyler Durden, the superego is boundless and moves forward unfettered to things that are not realistic for the ego, the pranks and crimes against possessions of the project mayhem. But before that he confronts Jack with the fear of death using chemical burn. Crazy, unorthodox yet effective, and more important in a movie: entertaining. Finally, Jack evolves towards love, the main driver from the start. The movie is a love story. His relationship with the woman is abrasive, because his sexuality is twisted, hence is expressed through unexpected outlets at the start. He develops his personality and is able to express caring for a female and start a relationship and integrates his psyche, destroying his overpowering superego. Metaphorically expressed by the dissolution of Tyler. A beautifully aesthetically stunning crafted movie, fluid as our thouth processes are. From the start it displays a voyage through the brain's fear center. As a fable that it is, the use of special effects and creative, aggressive, edgy cinematography suspends your disbelief into a journey in a very human experience, a tale about our war. As Tyler Durden says when he puts the finger on our greed/consumerism epidemic, "our war is a spiritual war". Interwoven masterfully are the elements of a man's struggle with this disease and fighting our war. It never stops being an action film. The rant that Tyler delivers to the fight club, encapsulates some of the concerns the movie wants to bring the audience to brood upon. It is one of the few congruent lines thrown in your lap to understand the movie and the issues brought to light. Issues related to living lives without meaning, in mechanic jobs we hate, to buy stuff conditioned by the media to, but that we really don't truly need. We've become consumer droids. Space monkeys conditioned to press buttons towards oblivion. The media offers its carrot: fame, fortune, and every Ego-booster conceivable. And if the entanglement is rooted on the ego logic, ego perception and egotistic behavior it only messes up the problem further. All reinforces the need to gain awareness of the influence of the ego. The movie doesn't wrap up nicely the answers to these questions, and throws them on your lap. This movie left me with the strong impression of watching one of the most aggressive criticisms towards the dangers of excessive consumerism, of my generation. It is difficult to believe it was made by the director of Seven and two of the most prominent actors of our generation who put their necks on the line to express these concerns. Bravo!!