Fight Club

Disillusioned with his life, a young professional (Edward Norton) befriends a stranger (Brad Pitt) and forms an underground fight club.

Fight Club has style. The opening scene, which flows seamlessly from the credits, has some great special effects, creative editing, and flashy cinematography. All that and you’re barely five minutes into the movie.

The thing is though, it works. All the tricks and the effects, they all work for the story, and never against it. Director David Fincher is like a professional athlete using every move in his arsenal to help his team score. That may be one of the worst analogies ever, but looking at the way everything in Fight Club comes together, its hard to ignore.

Say what you will about Brad Pitt’s acting in other films, but he works here. His Tyler Durden is so perfectly realized it’s hard to believe writer Chuck Palahniuk didn’t have him in mind when he wrote the book. Combine this with the always excellent Edward Norton and the acting alone makes this movie impressive.

But in the end, it’s Fincher who makes Fight Club outstanding. He takes a good movie and makes it great, and in doing so separates himself from the legions of music video directors turned feature film directors that seem to have overrun Hollywood.