The Info Bit
Genre: Drama/Black Comedy/Thriller
Starring: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter
Director: David Fincher
Run Time: 2hrs 13min
Rating: 18
Year: 1999
Production Company: 20th Century Fox
Some films are seen in the viewing community as ‘modern classics’ (a phrase I hate by the way) and none more so, maybe, than Fight Club. David Fincher’s most recognised piece of work to date is ten years old this year and as a result I thought it might be time to dust off the DVD and give it the once over *.
The first thing I will say is this film is gripping!! From the start where the camera pulls out through Edward Norton’s brain travelling past synapses and past a gun all accompanied by a track of music with a lot of bass, all the way to the final scene again accompanied, in this writers opinion, by the perfect musical backing track (Kudos to the music coordinators The Dust Bro‘s), the film manages to keep you enthralled following the band of characters which include, apart from the main three stars, Meat Loaf and Jared Leto (Now of band 30 Seconds to Mars Fame). Edward Norton puts in the best performance in this film of any film I’ve seen him in, his workload is massive!! Not only is he in every scene in someway (which makes sense seeing as its his Insomniac Car Recall Coordinator’s character we’re following) but he also spends much of the film doing a ‘nourish’ narration of his life and the story. Brad Pitt is, for me, also putting in one of his best performances ever, playing the character Tyler Durden who is a soap salesman, who when he is introduced at about the 20 minute stage rarely spends any time away from Norton’s character and complements Norton’s noir voiceovers with intelligent and frank statements about the pointlessness of life and what people should do to survive in a world ruled by commercialism.
Somewhere in the mix appears the other title character a broken down waste of a women called Marla played by Helena Bonham Carter, she also puts in a brilliant performance making the character very believable. So as not to spoil the film I won’t go into the plot and character details anymore, partly because its much more fun to see it all revealed before you, but what I will say is pay careful attention during the first half hour or so to see if you can see the little hints of the things to come.
DVD extras on this one are pretty much what you’d expect Audio commentary by the director and cast, a little behind the scenes documentary, some cast and crew bios with photo galleries, some deleted scenes which probably aren’t going to be missed if ever added to the final product and a music video. I should at this juncture point out that I have watched the Special Edition 2 disc version of this film and there is now a definitive edition available. As far as I can tell there is no difference between these versions but I can’t guarantee that.
So basically this film is certainly David Fincher’s best to date, its gripping, its exciting and it holds messages about the drone like existence commercial dependence of our species that were relevant in 1999 and surely have only become more relevant ten years on. Almost the entire cast puts in the performances of their lives (Sorry Ed but you will never top this no matter how hard you try) and as a result it ’s a film you will want to watch at least a few times to discover all the little twists and turns and subtle nuances in the performance. Its not a perfect film because nothing in this world is but I reckon its about as close as anyone’s come………so far.
Stars out of Five: Five
* Thanks Les for the suggestion, check out the genius that is Les at http://afrofilmviewer.blogspot.com/
Genre: Drama/Black Comedy/Thriller
Starring: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter
Director: David Fincher
Run Time: 2hrs 13min
Rating: 18
Year: 1999
Production Company: 20th Century Fox
Some films are seen in the viewing community as ‘modern classics’ (a phrase I hate by the way) and none more so, maybe, than Fight Club. David Fincher’s most recognised piece of work to date is ten years old this year and as a result I thought it might be time to dust off the DVD and give it the once over *.
The first thing I will say is this film is gripping!! From the start where the camera pulls out through Edward Norton’s brain travelling past synapses and past a gun all accompanied by a track of music with a lot of bass, all the way to the final scene again accompanied, in this writers opinion, by the perfect musical backing track (Kudos to the music coordinators The Dust Bro‘s), the film manages to keep you enthralled following the band of characters which include, apart from the main three stars, Meat Loaf and Jared Leto (Now of band 30 Seconds to Mars Fame). Edward Norton puts in the best performance in this film of any film I’ve seen him in, his workload is massive!! Not only is he in every scene in someway (which makes sense seeing as its his Insomniac Car Recall Coordinator’s character we’re following) but he also spends much of the film doing a ‘nourish’ narration of his life and the story. Brad Pitt is, for me, also putting in one of his best performances ever, playing the character Tyler Durden who is a soap salesman, who when he is introduced at about the 20 minute stage rarely spends any time away from Norton’s character and complements Norton’s noir voiceovers with intelligent and frank statements about the pointlessness of life and what people should do to survive in a world ruled by commercialism.
Somewhere in the mix appears the other title character a broken down waste of a women called Marla played by Helena Bonham Carter, she also puts in a brilliant performance making the character very believable. So as not to spoil the film I won’t go into the plot and character details anymore, partly because its much more fun to see it all revealed before you, but what I will say is pay careful attention during the first half hour or so to see if you can see the little hints of the things to come.
DVD extras on this one are pretty much what you’d expect Audio commentary by the director and cast, a little behind the scenes documentary, some cast and crew bios with photo galleries, some deleted scenes which probably aren’t going to be missed if ever added to the final product and a music video. I should at this juncture point out that I have watched the Special Edition 2 disc version of this film and there is now a definitive edition available. As far as I can tell there is no difference between these versions but I can’t guarantee that.
So basically this film is certainly David Fincher’s best to date, its gripping, its exciting and it holds messages about the drone like existence commercial dependence of our species that were relevant in 1999 and surely have only become more relevant ten years on. Almost the entire cast puts in the performances of their lives (Sorry Ed but you will never top this no matter how hard you try) and as a result it ’s a film you will want to watch at least a few times to discover all the little twists and turns and subtle nuances in the performance. Its not a perfect film because nothing in this world is but I reckon its about as close as anyone’s come………so far.
Stars out of Five: Five
* Thanks Les for the suggestion, check out the genius that is Les at http://afrofilmviewer.blogspot.com/
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