Review of Fight Club (1999) by Colby S — 03 Mar 2014

In David Fincher's nihilistic satire "Fight Club," Edward Norton is the disaffected nameless narrator. An office worker, he attends nightly group therapy sessions for the terminally ill. When he meets soap salesman Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) they look for emotional release in violent bare knuckle fighting confrontations.

That leads to the founding of an underground club that sanctions men pummeling each other to a pulp. Based on the Chuck Palahniuk book, Jim Uhls' script begins promisingly. There is an opening narration that critiques American materialism in nightmare fashion with the tone of a horrifying comedy suggestive of "Taxi Driver.

" In the second half, the satire becomes heavy-handed as the violence becomes more extreme in its brutality and the club turns to terrorism against corporations. A concluding plot twist with homoerotic overtones is ludicrous.

The filmmakers define masculinity as freedom from emasculation. The movie aspires to profundity but the insights are shallow. It embraces nihilism as the only way to feel alive. Violence as presented here takes on the form of pornography.

Fincher displays his usual kinetic visual style. Edward Norton gives a typically exceptional performance. With Helena Bonham Carter who is mostly uninspired, Jared Leto, Meat Loaf, Zach Grenier.