I WANT TO DESTROY SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL (Fight Club (DVD))

Member Name: burninhell88

Product:	Fight Club (DVD)
Date:	13/08/03 (1449 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Palahniuk, Everything

Disadvantages: None

Fight Club is an adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk?s dark, disturbing and eye-opening novel. Unlike some adaptations, Fight Club retains the novels apocalyptic brilliance (please do mind the frequency of oxymoronic phrases within the op) without losing its dare-I-say ?charm? and satirical context; with a narrator integrating vital lines of humour and philosophy that really define the film.
In a world of rapidly increasing consumerism and where a human being is simply ?the consumer? large corporations enslave us to the IKEA nesting instinct and we are bound to what the model for Calvin Klein model is to show us what we should be. No. This isn?t some distant distorted future. This is today. "When deep space exploration ramps up, it will be corporations that name everything. The IBM Stellar Sphere. The Philip Morris Galaxy. Planet Starbucks."

To give details of the plot would be like describing God. The plot is inexplicable. However I?ll try to give you the low down on the film which was critics delight, ice cream for the mind.
Please excuse the short, snappy sentences. They are in true Palahniuk style as I attempt to pay homage to the man whose idea spawned a creation of something truly excellent.


Meet the Narrator, he suffers from insomnia and is addicted to buying furniture from IKEA.
Pornography is nothing anymore, now it?s a catalogue of the Horchow Collection. His idea of being complete is to have everything that would define his life as ?perfect? even the glass dishes with tiny bubbles. This man?s only hope of relief from life is to find a place in the world where he can feel whole. This is where he meets Bob. Bob has b*tch t*ts. In Bob?s bosom of love at a testicular cancer workshop for those who suffer from the disease the Narrator feels a connection.
When he cries in Bob?s breasts he is whole. The only catch is however, the Narrator doesn?t have testicular cancer. Nor blood parasites, brain tumours, bowel cancer
. But he attends the talks. He is simply addicted to support groups. His theory is that when you are dying, people listen to you, take an interest in your words.


Hello, Marla; she like Narrator is a faker. She attends support groups for free coffee. Faker. Faker. Faker. How can the Narrator sob into the bosom of his pal when the faker is watching? As a most unusual character, Marla Singer is different to anything expected of a ?character?. She has little involvement in any plot, though is peculiarly an extremely relevant person. She pops pills to commit suicide, or it might just be one of those cry for attentions. Does it really matter? She sees life as it is. She wears $1 dirty bridesmaid dresses.


Tyler is a man the Narrator meets on a plane. (In actual fact they meet on a nudist beach, though I assume Brad Pitt and Ed Norton had conservations about this). He has a warped, distorted view on life. He doesn?t want to be complete. He wants the opposite. Why strive to become complete, if complete is what company?s want us to think we should be. Why listen to what television has had us to believe, that we?ll all become millionaires, movie gods and rock stars.
"You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else." Out of the mouth of the most unlikely philosopher to ever hit the screens. Tyler Durden is the culmination of what we want to say, how we want to step out of line, ditch the IKEA and the perfect way of life. Living in a dirty abandoned paper mill he makes and sells soap and sometimes makes explosives from the stuff.
Tyler?s philosophy is also that self destruction is what makes life what it is. Destruction is creation.

?I want to destroy something beautiful?

This is when the Fight Club is created. The Narrator is living with Tyler due to his flat, his IKEA furnishings being obliterated. His old life is lost. Bring on th
e new way of life. A release of tension. One night a week. Two men in a ring. No shirts, no shoes. The first rule of Fight Club is that you do not tell anyone about Fight Club.
How long can self-destruction be the path? What happens when reality is a blur and your life is dominated by your counterpart? When does a once-a-week Fight Club become a terrorist operation with the only purpose for mayhem and vandalism?...


What begins as an expedition into the mind of the Narrator becomes a swirling vortex leading into the depths of the abyss. Fight Club is a mind-job and not for the faint of heart. It lacks the virtue to be politically correct; its dank subject matter is dark and often sick and it?s a bloody, violent action film with originality in abundance. Mischief. Mayhem. Soap.


The unusual mixture of characters is a disjointed, conflicting mix of the scary, the hopeless, the b*tch breasted and the anti-Christ. There is a conspicuous paradox that exists within the characters and their roles. These are characters we hate to love and love to hate. But we simply love and hate them. Their classic lines that are rather inspirational, their spontaneity and random outbursts are fantastic.
Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter have imbued their characterisations with an accurate depiction of those in the novel. With the frequent interludes of narration and the superlative stand-out performances from the cast, there exists a Palahniuk-esque brilliant film; certainly not something that will fall victim to the much-feared sequel disease.


Fight Club stands as a 2 hour 10 minute message to the people of wherever. To you and me. Large companies are gods in which we are simply their servants, they have slyly deluded us and made us worship those in the public eye. They make us buy their products. We are nothing without our designer underwear. We are nothing.
Pulp Fiction was ahead of it?s time for pushing a message
to an audience through irrelevant subject matter. Namely, the infamous Royale with cheese and the metric system. Fight Club is influenced by this convention of film, though takes it to the extreme. Instead of that in life which seems unimportant, like a burger or system of weight, Fight Club deals with subject matter much ?greater? to exemplify its ?point?? Death, violence, God, Our self. Pulp Fiction retains tact and is discreet about its message. Fight Club mocks the tact and makes an uncouth gesture at it. Fight Club has a reputation for being itself, that is its point. ?You?ve just had a near life experience?.


?This is your life and it?s ending one minute at a time.?


David Fincher?s artistry of film is an added bonus to the performance from the cast. The cinematography was nothing short of spectacular; artistic views and interesting camera angles. Its a very glossy stylised camera working, the hidden subliminal pictures of Tyler Durden, the controversial adaptation. It all binds together into a crème de la crème of film. Its artistic vision is just as impressive and awe-inspiring as the plot and characters.
From its starting point, [incidentally its point of terminus] to its, well, starting point (the end backed by The Pixies, Where Is My Mind? in a darkly ironic scene is supreme), Fight Club delivers an audience a slice of intelligent humour, action and apocalypse [of one-self]. A belated obeisance to a cine masterpiece.

"On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero."


Surpassing recommendation?


"I am Jack's smirking revenge."
"I am Jack's cold sweat"
"I am Jack's raging bile duct"
"I am Jack's broken heart"
"I am Jack's complete lack of surprise"

Summary: