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 ight Club" is, in my mind, the best movie to
never gain an audience. It's one of those movies that people either
"get" or "didn't get." That isn't to say those who
"didn't get" the film is stupid, but merely that "Fight
Club" is what you would call "hit and miss" -- you either like
it, or you don't. I happen to adore the film, and hence was greatly troubled
that it failed so miserably at the box office. Then again, another favorite
movie, "Big
Trouble in Little China," also failed miserably when it opened in the
'80s, and has become a cult hit. "Fight Club" is destined for similar
greatness, I believe. It will take audiences a few generations removed to
appreciate its message fully.
The film is about an insomniac (Edward Norton, whose
character is never given a name), who wonders the desolate landscape of
nighttime Los Angeles trying to pass the time. One day Norton comes across Tyler
Durden (Brad Pitt), a brash and flippant soap salesman who introduces him to the
world of self-destruction. The two begin an underground fighting club that tests
their "manhood" and helps release their anger at the world and their
place within it. Eventually the club spreads to other cities, and threatens to
get out of hand. Norton thinks Durden is trying to set himself up as some kind
of messiah of destruction, leading his "disciples" to mass anarchy.
But the real question is: Does Norton want to stop Durden, or does Norton
secretly want to be Durden?
For much of its first hour, the film focuses solely on
Norton and Pitt's character as they try to dissect the present state of man in
society. Their questions concerning a man's "place" and what
constitutes a "man" is very relevant for those of us not quite sure
about our place. The film explores all those elements, using the unleashing of
primal boxing matches as an exaggerated form of male bonding, male anger
management, and pure male testosterone. By the time the movie nears its end, it
seems like every other man you meet on the street has taken part in the
underground fight clubs. Slowly, Durden's power begins to grow, and with it, his
legend, as he rises to almost demi-God status, much to Norton's chagrin.
Director David Fincher films the world of "Fight
Club" in bright colors, and the actual
fights at the fight club are brutal and bloody and like the gunshots in "Saving
Private Ryan", you actually feel every punch, every kick, and every
teeth that gets knock out. Despite all that, "Fight Club" is mostly a
black comedy, and is hilarious in various spots. It's not an action film by any
stretch, although there is a lot of action.
Where Fincher and writer Jim Uhls, who adapts from a
novel by Chuck Palahniuk,
falters a bit is when the film ceases to become believable. Instead of more
explorations of the man as a creature at the crossroads of an identity crisis,
the film veers into overblown cartoonish violence that threatens to dismiss all
that's come before it.
"Fight Club" is most effective when it explores
the world of man in and around the fight clubs, but becomes a ridiculous version
of itself when it attempts to be too ambitious. The entire movie is one big
nightmarish cartoon, but the cartoon gets just a little bit too much when the
"Project Mayhem" subplot pops up. Durden's crusade against the
corporations of the world is an unnecessary byproduct of his rantings about
commercialism having ruined the concept of "man," but I could have
done without his grand scheme to assault the corporations of the world.
Instead I would have liked more exploration of the male psyche
in a world that purports to want "sensitive" man and yet glorifies the
"bad boy." It's all done, said, and treated as satire of modern
culture, of course, but it's still relevant to a lot of people out there.
In years to come, "Fight Club" will be given its
due. At least this time I can say I was there, rooting for it, when it first
came out.
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