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| Edward
Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter, Meat Loaf, Jared Leto |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Narrator:
Everywhere I travel, tiny life. Single-serving sugar, single-serving
cream, single pat of butter. The microwave Cordon bleu hobby-kit. Shampoo-conditioner
combos. Sample-packaged mouthwash. The people I meet on flights? They're
single-serving friends.
A
support group addicted insomniac meets a free spirit and starts a secret
club in which men engage in fist fights.
 Fight
Club
starts with the story of a pathetic, burned out, insomniac office worker
(Edward Norton) who can only find solace and emotional release in support
groups where the pain of others is so much greater than his own. He
himself has become numb towards any outside emotion and worse, he doesn't
even know how to process these emotions anymore. There's post-modern
society for you: Fight Club makes it explicit by some nice social
comments on consumerism, office politics and corporate greed. And that's
not counting the Freudian overtones of the testicular cancer support
group, his inability to deal with Marla at an adult emotional level
and a penguin as his power animal. A true American loser. And for the
first hour you feel this movie is gonna build up to something amazing
once he has met Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). What you get instead is a
messy, disjointed and frankly dissapointing second half.
It turns out the whole movie is little more than a sick joke of absurdist
proportions. The makers of this film never had the nerve to follow their
implications through: by negating the rules of contemporary society
and opting for a different, more violent and ruthless path to finally
become an integrated and whole human being, searching for identity and
meaning in life, you'd expect by the end of the movie it would be either
one or the other. In the end it turns out to be neither of those, and
instead it doesn't say anything interesting at all. And it would've
been a good joke if somehow the viewer was let in on it more subtly
instead of with a sledgehammer at the end. As it stands, Fight Club
can;t possibly sustain the weight of its own pretentions. If this movie
was supposed to make me think and ponder my existence in modern society,
they should have come up with something more substantial. Still, it's
a nice try, and it's at least twice as good as just about any other
contemporary movie, and ten times as bold and original. Edward Norton
is terrific as the narrator, sort of a 21st century slapstick character.
His performance makes the movie mesmerizing and real for the viewer.
Helena Bonham Carter and Brad Pitt do good work too, although I find
Pitt's mannerisms dangerously close to the stuff he did in 12 Monkeys.
But he can be a funny guy if he wants too, and certainly radiates macho
appeal here. For those who were still skeptical after the phenomenal
Se7en and the underrated The Game, David Fincher proves
with Fight Club that he is a talent in a class of his own. The
movie is so slickly made it's almost frightening. Every frame is filled
with amazing stuff and bristles with invention. Let's hope he will find
a core of emotion in his next picture instead of more paranoia and ambiguity. |
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Fight
Club is available as a 2-disc Special Edition DVD in Region 1 and
Region 2. The
second disc - with the supplemental features - is identical on both
versions, but three of the four audio commentaries on the Region 1 edition
have been dropped from the Region 2 release in favor of a French-language
DD 5.1 soundtrack. This review covers the Region 1 release.
The
anamorphic widescreen image is framed at 2.40:1. Fight Club's
cinematography has a unique color palette, very darkly lit and full
of rich browns, and it has been transferred faithfully (under the director's
supervision) in this stunning, reference quality transfer.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mix offers a deep and wide, fully immersive
sound stage with great directional sound effects and an impressive soundstage
for the Dust Brothers' edgy, in-your-face score.
 Whether
or not one admires Fight Club the movie, Fight Club the
DVD represents an uncontested milestone in DVD presentations. From its
handsome carboard 'soap box' packaging to the outstanding and innovative
way it presents the extra features on disc 2, this is a true stunner
of a DVD and one that is guaranteed to provide hour upon hour of enjoyment
even to those who are skeptical about the movie.
There are no fewer than four feature-length audio commentaries.
David Fincher has one track to himself and he's pleasant to listen to.
He doesn't come across like the intense perfectionist he obviously is,
but he can't resist pinpointing his predilection for small details in
the frame that few would ever see.
The second commentary is Fincher with Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena
Bonham Carter (who was recorded separately) with Norton talking the
most and at lenght about Fight Club's negative press from sometimes
unlikely places as he smartly points out. And if you listen closely
you'll find out what David Fincher's cameo appearance in the movie is.
This track is the most accessible of the four, and the most entertaining;
it is also the only one that has been included on the Region 2 release.
The third track is given to Chuck Palahniuk (the author of the novel
that served as the film's basis) and screenwriter Jim Uhls. Palahniuk
offers lots of background on where a lot of the ideas came from and
Uhls is surprisingly cool about a lot of it. They even discuss character
motivation differently from one another which makes for some interestingly
head-scratching moments. One thing to note, they both laugh heartily
at the final scenes so I guess you're not supposed to take the final
plot twist very seriously.
Track four has the production designer and special effects people and
a lot of their talk returns on disc 2.
The second disc contains an enormous amount of extras divided into different
categories and segments. The way they are presented makes full use of
the technical possibilities of the medium, and even manages to do this
in a way we have rarely (if ever) seen before. Alternate versions of
scenes, behind-the-scenes footage, audio commentaries, special effects
sequence breakdowns, promotional material, all of this is presented
in an exemplary, clearly documented and very creative fashion that shows
there can be much more to a Special Edition DVD than the usual storyboard-to-screen
comparisons, scene progression breakdown and artwork galleries.
There are six short behind-the-scenes featurettes split in location
scouting and on-set footage that can be accessed separately or simultaneously
(via the angle function or via split-screen), some of which have a commentary
from Fincher or other crew members. The visual effects are dealt with
in a similar manner, with rather technical but very rewarding commentary
from the people responsible. There's also a hilarious montage of backstage
events titled On Location.
Then there are eight deleted scenes in non-anamorphic widescreen. Some
are extensions of existing scenes, others alternative versions (in these
instances, the version that made the final cut is added). All of the
deleted scenes are well organized and clearly documented, and the addition
of the scene as it appears in the film makes for a truly valuable and
insightful extra.
The advertising segment is my personal favorite because it contains
the infamous Fight Club PSA from Pitt and Norton, the great internet
promo spots from Norton and the film's press kit, to be viewed in detail.
Another favorite is the Easter Egg (only available on the Region 1 release):
press your remote control's arrow 'Down' key three times until a smiley
face appears right underneath the 'Promotional Gallery ' entry. Now
press 'Enter' and you will be taken to a merchandising catalogue where
you can take a look at some of the official 'Fight Club' merchandise,
which includes soap bars, t-shirts, bags and other promo items, all
of them accompanied by cynical and hilarious text recommendations.
The Art section contains all the storyboards, some more stills from
specific set pieces and visual effects episodes.The
main menu on disc 1 starts off with a nifty joke following the FBI warning.
The animated menu screens are expertly designed, based on the concept
of a film reel that keeps getting stuck. Cues from the score play in
the background, and the American release has amusing roll-overs for
the buttons, which are mysteriously missing from the Region 2 release.
Dan Hassler-Forest & Gerard Castelein
Reviewed: 2001
Click
here for IMDB info on Fight
Club .
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