After watching Fight Club for about the hundredth time, I can still safely say it's one of my all time favorite movies.
Fight Club is more than defensible. It is an excellent film that raises some interesting questions about the nature of man and his relationship to the world he has made. It does not abandon thoughtfulness in its pursuit of the adrenaline jolt. It's a brutal, yet honest. It speaks clearly against consumerism, monologued by Edward Norton a few minutes into the movie, and later by Brad Pitt's character, Tyler Durden. Pan over Project Mayhem, dozens of men working to achieve enlightenment, and Tyler Durden is their preacher, he states: "You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. We are the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world." This is a perfect example of the main theme of the movie, anti-consumerism.
After seeing several of Fincher's other films, I can safely say that this movie is exactly in his style. Neo-noir stylized cinematography, poetic dialog, non-digetic voice overs, etc. All of his other films have employ the same style, which isn't surprising at all.
Brad Pitt also plays the same arrogant, cocky hipster that he plays in his other Fincher movies, The contrast between his character in Se7en and his character in Fight Club are almost nonexistent. They have the same mannerisms, same way of speaking, and same attitude. This isn't a bad thing, as I feel that that character has not been overused yet.
There are many cuts from storyline to emphasize different points, such as when The Narrator(Edward Norton) narrates to the audience, while the action that he is speaking about goes on in the background. This happens quite frequently and gives us a physical representation of his words.
The theme in his movies are very similar as well, encompassing character(s) that are estranged from the world, and centralizing the movie around said character(s) internal struggles, battling for their sanity.
My points are elaborated more thoroughly in this review:
9 comments:
I agree that his films show some of the same characteristics that are shown in Fight Club like poetic dialog, non-digetic voice overs, and more. I really like the way he shows anti-consumerism in the movie.
David Fincher does an excellent job at keeping the audience entertained with his narration playing infront of the shots. It makes the whole feel of the film a lot greater in general, and really creates a possitive interaction. I also like how Fincher promotes the characters stuggles so well throughout most of his films.
I have not seen any of Fincher’s other work but after seeing Fight Club I am excited to see them. After watching the movie twice I saw a lot more of the heavy satire and the poetic dialog being applied well. With that I liked how Edward Norton talked during a shot/ scene and gave us a physical representation of his words.
BTW did you guys know it was a book before it was a movie?
Yeah I've read it. They modeled the movie after the book a lot. The same trippy dialog and scenes. My favorite part of the movie is when The Narrator leaves the context of the movie to characterize himself, Marla, or Tyler. I find it more unique than the classic, here are his mannerisms, now characterize him. At some points, however, I find it overkill, like when they break from the plot to a shot of Brad Pitt, it zooms in, rotates on an axis, and uses a deep lens to add artificial depth to the background. I thought that wasn't necessary at all, it added absolutely nothing.
Also Quimby, I like your blog post.
ya my first post was short but that was because i didn't know what to talk about. anyway, hunter what did u like better the book or the movie.
The way Fincher had the dialog really brought the characters to life and made them easy to understand. It made you feel Edward Norton's hardships. Also he put in some funny and awkward lines that I remembered. My favorite was said by Marla- “My God. I haven't been fucked like that since grade school.”
I personally didn't even know there was a book, but since the movie was so good I don't really have any desire to read the book in the first place. I am also real excited to watch another Fincher film. Anyone else here excited too? Just through this first film I found out that Fincher is a magnificent director, and he should be given a lot more credit towards the work he does...it's truly perfect. Anyways, Ben I liked your second post a lot better than your first post...good job! ; )
You'd know what to talk about if you watched the movie. I did like the book, but the wording in it was so chaotic that I forgot my place in the plot time line. That's one thing that frustrated me a lot. Also, concerning the plot - I find the completely outrageous plot line a bit over the top. The whole anarchistic, vigilante mayhem that he ended up causing was because his doctor wouldn't subscribe him any medication. I like it more when the plot seems more realistic, instead of one illogical thing that one person did.
Example: 39 steps, the whole thing could have been avoided if Van Damme hadn't been such a complete tool bag.
That doesn't mean I hate movies that go over the top, like any sci-fi or fantasy movie. I'm just saying that the context of the movie has to have a flowing plot.
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