Rating: 
Summary: Pitt and Norton at their best
Review: Another great film in the list of good Brad Pitt movies. He made a great career change starting with Seven and has yet to dissapoint. Norton also gives a great performance, which is par for the course with him. Kinda dark and violent, only a good date movie if your girlfriend is into S&M.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Eccentric
Review: This movie is truly one of a kind. This is one of the only movies that I strictly disagree with Roger Ebert on. He gave this film a low rating. I on the other hand praise this film and give it five stars. This film is great in several ways. The cinematography was exceptional, the cunning allusions to real events were amusing, and the originality and intelligence of letting a character giving a voice-over converse with another character simultaneously was genius. This movie is truly and completely absolutely eccentric. I gladly give five stars for this film.
Rating: 
Summary: Ingenius
Review: A great film. Don't be turned off by the 'male testosterone flick' vibe this film might seem to give off in the ads or in its name. It's really a very original, ingenious, subtle, and engaging film. The cinematography style is intrepid and highly polished, and the storyline never ceases to grab you when you least expect it. Do not read about the plot of this film, or what happens. Just check this movie out 'cold turkey' and your mind is sure to be blown!
Rating: 
Summary: Fight Club is a well made knockout, albeit disappointing
Review: Despite the fact that Fight Club is well made, laced with grand visuals, an intriguing character study, and chockfull of black comedy, it is awfully disappointing. The film's first act is wonderful, but midway through the movie has jarring shifts of tone, loses track of where it is going, and becomes careless and awkward in its storytelling. The film turns from what could have been a four-star--or even five-star--movie into nothing more than a celebration of violence, unpleasantness, and heavy-handed movie making. The central character of Fight Club is a man known in the credits only as 'Narrator' (played by Edward Norton). Norton's character is a disaffected, insomniac office worker whose life, to him, is empty. To assuage his troubles, he attends 12-step group therapy meetings to observe people whose problems are worse than his own. One of the other odd idiosyncrasies of Norton's character is that he purchases unusual furniture for his home, such as a round table with a giant yin-yang painted onto the table's surface. (A great scene takes place at this part of the movie in which a tracking shot of his living quarters showcases his furniture with a catalog-like description of names and prices written beside each item). At one particular 12-step meeting, Norton's character meets Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter). Marla is like the Narrator in that she relieves herself of stress via the meetings even though she doesn't have the problems that the meetings are meant to mend. Marla's attendance of the meetings frustrates the Narrator and turns his life back into the unmanageable lifestyle he lived before he discovered group therapy. Soon afterward, the Narrator meets a man named Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) on an airplane. The Narrator has seen images of Durden in his head, but has never seen him in reality. The Narrator finds that Durden lives life on the edge, and they soon find "friendship" after the Narrator's high-rise apartment is set aflame. The Narrator seeks shelter in Durden's decrepit house, and the two eventually start a chain of 'Fight Clubs.' These clubs are underground meetings where angry guys flock to beat the living daylights out of each other in brutal bare-knuckle fights in order to find highly extreme 'therapy' and 'self-realization.' As these organizations burgeon throughout the nation, Durden's agenda becomes more ambitious and mysterious, and Durden also begins to have a relationship with Marla. This is where the movie loses its wittiness, intelligence and originality to turn into a meandering movie about nothing more than brutality. It takes a lot to offend me in a movie, but the second and third acts of Fight Club are so strangely questionable and so over-the-top in their images and plot elements of terrorism and violence that I felt rather offended. Scenes that glorify killing and destruction are amplified to the point where we cannot help but reminisce about unsettling current events pertaining to death and destruction (It should be noted, however, that Fight Club is a pre-9/11 film). In addition, the amplification of violence in this film ruins the movie's message of 'don't follow Durden's philosophy of life' to the point where the movie almost becomes hypocritical. The second and third acts of Fight Club are also highly boring and meandering. Not only did this movie not know where to go, but it didn't know what it was. Fight Club didn't know if it was a comedy, a satire, an action flick, or a tragedy. Furthermore, the ending is inept and overblown. The ending of this movie tries to work in the same fashion as the endings of The Sixth Sense and The Usual Suspects, in that it tries to twist the plot in such a way that the whole story is completely changed. With The Sixth Sense and The Usual Suspects, this innovative plot twisting works, but with Fight Club it simply does not. Even though Fight Club has its imperfections, it does compensate with some excellent filmmaking. The movie is fluidly--and often flamboyantly--filmed and contains some great visuals. Also, Norton's performance is excellent as the man filled with angst to the point where life's smallest burdens corrupt him. Viewers should watch for a particularly unsettling scene in which Norton's boss finds the rules of "Fight Club" lying next to the printer in his office. Fight Club, adapted by Jim Uhls from Chuck Palahniuk's cult novel and directed by David Fincher, is a gritty and vicious film that lacks redemption. Its putrescence is compensated by its more positive aspects, even though it will only be enjoyed by some and not all. It is the sort of movie that people must see in order to form their own opinions, while at the same time, a movie that thinks it's philosophical. David Fincher is a good director (Fincher's past work includes The Game and Se7en), but it seems he wants Fight Club to be a test of endurance more than he wants it to be truly great.
Rating:
Summary: Hate it if you will...but STOP CALLING IT FASCIST
Review: I have no problem with people disliking this movie. Everyone has different taste. But when people start bashing it because they think it advocates a political position that they obviously don't even understand, I get angry. Countless reviews have called the Fight Club/Project Mayhem group in the film "fascist" or "skinhead". Ebert, the amazon editorial review, and countless viewer reviews have made this assertion. I find this both amusing and incredibly frustrating, because they could not possibly be more wrong in their placement of FC/PM on the political scale. Here is a dicitonary definition of fascism: fas·cism
n. 1. A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
2. A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government.
3. Oppressive, dictatorial control. In other words, fascists are ultra-conservatives. They believe that people cannot possibly govern themselves and require the guidance of an absolute dictator to retain order. Since this political view is as far right on the political spectrum as you can get, ultra-conservatives are considered extremists. This, I believe, is where the confusion lies. FC/PM is also an extremist group, but their beliefs are on the far LEFT of the political scale. They are anarchists, and want the complete dissolution of governmental control. If you want to argue about the irony that the organiazation itself is run by a single absolute leader, fine. But if you think that the overall group has fascist goals, you are an idiot. And about the assertion that FC/PM is a "skinhead" organization, that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. The group's members shave their heads as part of the destruction of their individuality ("You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake..."), not as a statement of racism. If you paid any attention to the movie at all, you would notice that there are several black members in Fight Club. That hundreds or even thousands of people have made their descision on whether or not to view this movie based on the incorrect statements of several prominent reviewers annoys me to no end. And by the way, just because there are some anarchist/extremists views expressed in this film does not mean that the writer or director actually advocate anarchy or disorder. The movie is meant to make us look at the way we live, not to convince us of some twisted political agenda. Read the Chuck Palahniuk novel, and this will become even more clear. There is nothing in this world that pisses me off more than ignorance.
And just so you don't think I'm saying that I know more than everyone else, I'm even more pissed off when that ignorance is my own.
Rating:
Summary: Messes with your mind!
Review: I didn't want to watch this movie at first, but I was at a friend's house and he told me I had no choice : "You're a psychology major; you're going to watch it and you're going to like it." I am Joe's complete surprise over how great this movie is. No doubt the film is incredibly violent; it's not for the weak of stomach. But the storyline made so much sense and the twist at the end was awesome. By the way, the book was also very good and gives you even more insight into the narrator's thoughts and especially his past.
Rating:
Summary: ehh-- comme ci comme ca
Review: it's no Usual Suspects but it's better than Kangaroo Jack
Rating:
Summary: Edward Norton-Brilliant
Review: Edward Norton shines in this brilliant risk-taking film. An open mind is essential in order to follow the plot's twists and turns. I gained a new respect for Brad Pitt as an actor-he has shown growth and an understanding of what it means to be a character foil.
Rating:
Summary: An Instant Classic!
Review: Fincher has done it again! Many of you think this is just some knockaround-violent film but there's a lot of wisdom in this movie. Tyler Durden may seem like just a macho bar brawler, but after seeing this film you might just call him a genius. You must watch this movie with the right mindset, it's the gateway to our souls.
Rating:
Summary: Everyman into Uberman ...
Review: 'Fight Club' is definitely a film you either identify with, or identify against. Within the story is a portrayal of the modern everyman going through life in a self obsessed daze with limited resources. Ed Norton plays the worker bee of cubicle trask researching auto-accidents for an auto company contemplating recalls for their mistaken engineerings. Being surrounded by death trivialized by corporate economics he loses his identity and longs to have his life taken (portrayed in an amazing fantasy plane crash scene). He then meets one of the motivators out of his dull, cloisted life - Tyler Derden (Brad Pitt) who is a self styled, enigmatic, charismatic rebel creating designer soap using discarded fat from liposuction clinics. Together these two team up to revive men from their modern, materialistic malaise in society and return them to lively, combative, comradeship in socialist fight clubs that sweep the country and turn into Derden's personal tool to destroy the materialistic world that holds men in financial and emotional paralysis. On the inside of the special edition booklet and box are many slags from popular press against the movie and the X-generation by old, out of touch critics from less contemporary eras. This is a modern tale for the modern everyman surrounded by images and objects portraying lifestyles we will never be able to obtain. Men caught in a world outside their control, and immasculated by pop and industrial culture. Either you live this life and instantly identify strongly, or are priviledged beyond the frustrations of western culture and find the statements and actions, implied and stated, as brutal, nonsensical, and ridiculous. 'Fight Club', for the empathetic, provides an ideal fantasy of escape, tribal ritual, acceptance, organization and achievement under the guise of greater good while utilizing animalistic, hostile methods. Almost every scene in the movie is littered with this kind of double meaning, and obfuscated morality that can easily repulse and intrigue the viewer. The most validating message is that the pathetic everyman caught in this whirl of ambitious reorganization of male power is actually the uberman who makes it happen; saying anyone has the power to change the world for better or worse. Finch, Palachniuk, Pitt, Norton and the rest of the cast and crew combine for powerful acting, dialogue, cinematography, editing and story that creates one of the most memorable and insightful celluloid statements of the 90's. Not the perfect film, but damn close.
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