Well, folks... prepare to be excited. Sounds like THE FIGHT CLUB is the real deal. Ok, sure... we've only heard from one person... but from listening to this review... seeing a shared opinion (Seven- magnificient, GAME-pretty darn good, ALIEN 3- no comment, and Wallflowers video - brilliant) and then hearing him give the extreme roughcut of this film a 9 out of 10... Well, it's got my expectations raised pretty darn high... There are spoilers, but absolutely nothing like say talking about the box in SEVEN, or the fall in THE GAME. It's spoilers concerning the set up. With Ed Norton in this film I'm dying to see it. I'm a Big Ed Norton fan. Here we go with Captain Smirk...
I've relocated to LA since last we spoke and am happy an eager to bring you this 'industry' news. (By the way, if I wasn't in the middle of financial/relocation turmoil, I would have sent you that much needed Ferrari so you can strut your Geek ass in style (restitution for the happiness your website gives me))
Anyway, the film that I saw a rough cut of was Fight Club.
I was invited with a group of industry friends to see David Fincher's newest masterpiece: Fight Club, a week ago at a test screening. Now, I'm trying to be objective here since I really dig Fincher's direction and vision (I'm very glad that he isn't making films with Michael 'Anti-Christ-of-Film' Bay.), although he is one of my all time favorite directors. Just to let you know where I stand: Seven - Masterpiece. The Game - Excellent (though decidedly not as great as Seven). Alien 3 - well, we don't have to go there. Wallfowers video - brilliant.
This film will definetly compound the stardom of Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, the two stars. Brad gives more then a token performance as Tyler Durden(I did hear on E! a while ago that he was going to have his teeth surgically altered for the film) along the lines of a Twelve Monkeys/Seven hybrid. Edward Norton, who plays the main narrator character, is proving himself to be the most recent acting goldmine. The film also stars Helena Bonham Carter (spelling?) as the love interest/sadio masochistic manic depressive slut, Marla. Her performance is one of her strongest ever. There is also a surprising performance by Meatloaf as well. (yes, I said Meatloaf)
Well, here goes (spoilers below):
Fight Club follows the life of the central character (Norton) and his battle of normalcy and himself. As it begins, his life is that of a proto-abnormal depressed, sterile, passionless, insomniac. Odd things keep happening in his life; he meets a character named Tyler Durden (Pitt) who appears to be this rugged free-to-choose-his-own-destiny guy, soon after his apartment explodes. Go figure. He also attends meetings of those who are terminal cancer patients so he can feel their sadness.
He starts to hang out with Tyler more and more getting wrapped up in Tyler's philosophies of life: pain is truth, the only truth. What begins as a fight between two friends to 'feel the pain' spreads into an underground movement. Soon people everywhere are joining Fight Club: an ultra secret (the first rule about Fight Club is that you can't talk about Fight Club), ultra violent (The fight goes until you can't fight any longer) and ultra ultra secret (did I mention that? The second rule of Fight Club is that you can't talk about Fight Club).
The plot is actually so twisted and difficult to explain that without the primer (what you learn at the very end is very important but it would be like giving away the ending to Seven) I would have to rewrite the script word for word.
The direction is solid and awesome. There was a temp track which was also pretty solid. I'm dying to see this film again when it is edited properly (I know there is a book called Fight Club that this was based on but I suspect it is quite different). I didn't find out the release date but I did find out that Fincher's next project will not be Star Wars... he's working on Rendezvous With Roma (also based on a book).
Anyway, I give this a 9 out of 10 and that's without it even being complete.
Well that's all for now, but I'll be back with some more news.
-captain smirk
