Fight Club.....it's not really that good...

Ok, I haven't seen this movie in about 6 years. I remember it being decent, but I still constantly hear people quoting it and raving about how brilliant it is. So, I watched it again tonight. I guess it's alright, but definitely one of the most overrated movies of the past 20 years. If you ask me it should have been 30 or 45 minutes longer, and each part of the story (the actual club and its forming, the army, the spreading of the club, the vandalism, the big plot twist, and their huge 'plan') should all have been developed some more.

Anyone else agree?

I remember a friend of mine in high school kept raving about it, insisting that I should watch it immediately. Finally, I decided to watch it. I thought it was pretty bad. I thought the only redeemable quality was Norton. I haven't watched it since. He was completely shocked to hear this. From what I noticed, a lot of high school males seem to be obsessed with it.sammyjenkis898

Yeah I didn't care for it either. The ending was meant to be shocking I think, or at least disturbing. For me it wasn't so shocking or disturbing as it was mind-numbingly banal.

People who like Fight Club have the tendency to REALLY get into it for a period of time. Um, I'll include myself in that, haha. I was really into it a few years ago. Now, not so much. I think it's a pretty good movie, but yeah, it's a bit overrated. Edward Norton is good in it though.

I didn't get it.

Memento was released around the same time, and was WAY better.

I enjoyed the movie. Particularly Brad Pitt and Edward Norton's performances.

I'm glad to know there are other people who didn't like it, because I thought I was alone on that. :P

I remember a friend of mine in high school kept raving about it, insisting that I should watch it immediately. Finally, I decided to watch it. I thought it was pretty bad. I thought the only redeemable quality was Norton. I haven't watched it since. He was completely shocked to hear this. From what I noticed, a lot of high school males seem to be obsessed with it.sammyjenkis898

While I'm aware everyone has their own opinion, I just prefer people to list reasons WHY they thought it was bad. Like the OP stating he thought it needed more development, which I can say I disagree with, is fine. I know it's probably overrated but I love it and am still analyzing parts of it (thinking how it relates to Nietzche). I just can't help but remember this one time in high school Fight Club came up and this one kid was like "Fight Club? That movie sucked, it only had like, 2 fight scenes in it." The conversation was dropped in favor of a collective facepalm. Six Feet Under is FTW too :P.

I thought it was a grat movie

I watched it ... last month? Some time not too long ago. I thought it was good, but I'm not a huge fan of movies that deal with
(Semi-twist-spoiler)
[spoiler] psychological things [/spoiler]
Because they make my brain hurt. :P

I watched it ... last month? Some time not too long ago. I thought it was good, but I'm not a huge fan of movies that deal with
(Semi-twist-spoiler)

Because they make my brain hurt. :P

IcyToasters

I like intelligent movies, but Fight Club was not, in my opinion, one of them.

[QUOTE="sammyjenkis898"]I remember a friend of mine in high school kept raving about it, insisting that I should watch it immediately. Finally, I decided to watch it. I thought it was pretty bad. I thought the only redeemable quality was Norton. I haven't watched it since. He was completely shocked to hear this. From what I noticed, a lot of high school males seem to be obsessed with it.Morello964

While I'm aware everyone has their own opinion, I just prefer people to list reasons WHY they thought it was bad. Like the OP stating he thought it needed more development, which I can say I disagree with, is fine. I know it's probably overrated but I love it and am still analyzing parts of it (thinking how it relates to Nietzche). I just can't help but remember this one time in high school Fight Club came up and this one kid was like "Fight Club? That movie sucked, it only had like, 2 fight scenes in it." The conversation was dropped in favor of a collective facepalm. Six Feet Under is FTW too :P.

Honestly, I don't remember much from it. I just remember thinking it was just a pure exorcise of masochism, with a laughably bad ending. I believe most of the guys that loved the film in my high school loved it because "tough guys are fighting and it's awesome."

Six Feet Under for the win, indeed!

i love it. then again, i watched when i was 15, an age when one could be easily impressed. imo Se7en remains to be Fincher's magnum opus.

I think that Fight Club is largely divisive because it is so widely misinterpreted.

Sort of like how when Beavis and Butthead gets criticized for the dumbing down of teens, when that's the exact same ****ing thing that the show is trying to comment on.

In any case, I love Fight Club.

[QUOTE="Franklinstein"]Probably one of my favorite movies, but you should read the book too, the book is amazing.Sigh_han

Same here. I'm reading it atm, i'm about halfway, and i wish i read it before watching the movie. I keep picturing the movie when i read and it's annoying lol.

[QUOTE="IcyToasters"]

I watched it ... last month? Some time not too long ago. I thought it was good, but I'm not a huge fan of movies that deal with
(Semi-twist-spoiler)

Because they make my brain hurt. :P

GabuEx

I like intelligent movies, but Fight Club was not, in my opinion, one of them.

Honestly, despite making this thread, I think it had potential. With a longer running time, more all around plot development and interconnectivity, making the plot twist not so obvious, and a few other tweaks, it would have been an extremely intelligent movie. It just wasn't.

Honestly, I don't remember much from it. I just remember thinking it was just a pure exorcise of masochism, with a laughably bad ending. I believe most of the guys that loved the film in my high school loved it because "tough guys are fighting and it's awesome."

sammyjenkis898

Again, let me reference Beavis and Butthead.

A LOT of total ****ing idiots thought that Beavis and Butthead were cool guys, which is SOLELY because those are the exact same kinds of people who were too stupid to realize that the show was mocking people like them.

Fight Club consisted of a bunch of ****ing losers, and the people who think that the fighting was "cool" completely missed the point.

it's probably overrated, but it's still got a lot of great moments.

Good twist, great characters, great 1 liners, general testosterone driven badassery.

[QUOTE="Morello964"]

[QUOTE="sammyjenkis898"]I remember a friend of mine in high school kept raving about it, insisting that I should watch it immediately. Finally, I decided to watch it. I thought it was pretty bad. I thought the only redeemable quality was Norton. I haven't watched it since. He was completely shocked to hear this. From what I noticed, a lot of high school males seem to be obsessed with it.sammyjenkis898

While I'm aware everyone has their own opinion, I just prefer people to list reasons WHY they thought it was bad. Like the OP stating he thought it needed more development, which I can say I disagree with, is fine. I know it's probably overrated but I love it and am still analyzing parts of it (thinking how it relates to Nietzche). I just can't help but remember this one time in high school Fight Club came up and this one kid was like "Fight Club? That movie sucked, it only had like, 2 fight scenes in it." The conversation was dropped in favor of a collective facepalm. Six Feet Under is FTW too :P.

Honestly, I don't remember much from it. I just remember thinking it was just a pure exorcise of masochism, with a laughably bad ending. I believe most of the guys that loved the film in my high school loved it because "tough guys are fighting and it's awesome."

Six Feet Under for the win, indeed!

I just saw it again the other day and thought it was great. Good acting, engaging plot, and a good message. It was about resistance to being pigeonholed by society. It was trying to make us think and figure out if our lives had any true meaning, instead of just being defined by what we buy, wear and own. It was saying to just let go and slide.

Great movie. People who only liked it for the machoism maybe didn't understand the underlying message.

i think it's good, i do believe that it's overrated though.

I'm guessing a lot of people who saw it and didn't like it missed the point. Of course we all have our opinions, but for those of you film-buffs who didn't like it the first time, maybe give it a second go around? Its one of those things I could see not liking... But you have to appreciate it on some level. Then again, thats how I feel with most top tier films. I always felt the ending was one of the best in film, so to say it was laughable hurts. Hopefully given another try, you can at least take it seriously:).

Overused plot twist is overused. Too many movies have had some sort of variation on that and it's become pretty easy to spot at this point. (I think it was mostly the behavior of the girlfriend that gave it away.) That's pretty much what I have to say about Fight Club.

Well, that and the entire concept of the movie is pretty stupid, regardless of the plot twist. I wouldn't say it's a bad movie. I wouldn't dread watching it again. It's just a dumb movie.

Its meant to be a satire and there are a lot of interesting ideas thrown around than most Hollywood films. I don't think the ending is projected as a shocking twist moment like from some cheesey M. Night Shamalan movie. SPOILERS. It is about identity and the way that this guy created this perfect alter ego because he was so unhappy with his life. Its a different take on anarchy, and also an attack on consumerism as well.

There is a lot of truth in the fact that males do ventilate their anger through violence as well and that is why it speaks to a lot of people.

And for the game saying the plot twist was overused: the original novel was written back in 96.

Fight Club isn't great at all. It's just a cool movie people like because it "sticks it to the system".KHAndAnime

Its meant to be a satire and there are a lot of interesting ideas thrown around than most Hollywood films. I don't think the ending is projected as a shocking twist moment like from some cheesey M. Night Shamalan movie. SPOILERS. It is about identity and the way that this guy created this perfect alter ego because he was so unhappy with his life. Its a different take on anarchy, and also an attack on consumerism as well.

There is a lot of truth in the fact that males do ventilate their anger through violence as well and that is why it speaks to a lot of people.

And for the game saying the plot twist was overused: the original novel was written back in 96.

biggest_loser

[QUOTE="biggest_loser"]

Its meant to be a satire and there are a lot of interesting ideas thrown around than most Hollywood films. I don't think the ending is projected as a shocking twist moment like from some cheesey M. Night Shamalan movie. SPOILERS. It is about identity and the way that this guy created this perfect alter ego because he was so unhappy with his life. Its a different take on anarchy, and also an attack on consumerism as well.

There is a lot of truth in the fact that males do ventilate their anger through violence as well and that is why it speaks to a lot of people.

And for the game saying the plot twist was overused: the original novel was written back in 96.

StopThePresses

Agreed, and it was $63 million to be exact...kind of like how James Cameron has grossed $2 billion from Avatar while using the movie to portrary profit-seeking corporations as "evil."

I thoroughly enjoyed it - great story, Meat Loaf with breasts - what more could you ask for?

[QUOTE="biggest_loser"]

Its meant to be a satire and there are a lot of interesting ideas thrown around than most Hollywood films. I don't think the ending is projected as a shocking twist moment like from some cheesey M. Night Shamalan movie. SPOILERS. It is about identity and the way that this guy created this perfect alter ego because he was so unhappy with his life. Its a different take on anarchy, and also an attack on consumerism as well.

There is a lot of truth in the fact that males do ventilate their anger through violence as well and that is why it speaks to a lot of people.

And for the game saying the plot twist was overused: the original novel was written back in 96.

StopThePresses

I don't see it as an attack on consumerism at all. Tyler Durden was the one spouting that anti-consumerism crap, and Tyler Durden is revealed to be a villain who is full of ****. Tyler Durden addresses his followers as snotty little crybaby man-children, and that's EXACTLY what they are. If anything, I think that the movie is a comment on blindly following of bull**** ideologies.

[QUOTE="IcyToasters"]

I watched it ... last month? Some time not too long ago. I thought it was good, but I'm not a huge fan of movies that deal with
(Semi-twist-spoiler)

Because they make my brain hurt. :P

GabuEx

I like intelligent movies, but Fight Club was not, in my opinion, one of them.

[QUOTE="StopThePresses"][QUOTE="biggest_loser"]

Its meant to be a satire and there are a lot of interesting ideas thrown around than most Hollywood films. I don't think the ending is projected as a shocking twist moment like from some cheesey M. Night Shamalan movie. SPOILERS. It is about identity and the way that this guy created this perfect alter ego because he was so unhappy with his life. Its a different take on anarchy, and also an attack on consumerism as well.

There is a lot of truth in the fact that males do ventilate their anger through violence as well and that is why it speaks to a lot of people.

And for the game saying the plot twist was overused: the original novel was written back in 96.

MrGeezer

I don't see it as an attack on consumerism at all. Tyler Durden was the one spouting that anti-consumerism crap, and Tyler Durden is revealed to be a villain who is full of ****. Tyler Durden addresses his followers as snotty little crybaby man-children, and that's EXACTLY what they are. If anything, I think that the movie is a comment on blindly following of bull**** ideologies.

[QUOTE="biggest_loser"]

Its meant to be a satire and there are a lot of interesting ideas thrown around than most Hollywood films. I don't think the ending is projected as a shocking twist moment like from some cheesey M. Night Shamalan movie. SPOILERS. It is about identity and the way that this guy created this perfect alter ego because he was so unhappy with his life. Its a different take on anarchy, and also an attack on consumerism as well.

There is a lot of truth in the fact that males do ventilate their anger through violence as well and that is why it speaks to a lot of people.

And for the game saying the plot twist was overused: the original novel was written back in 96.

StopThePresses

And it was anti-consumerist because of a few things: the fact that he blows up his IKEA apartment to get away from it and to also destroy the buidlings with the credit card company records.

Fight Club is an excellent film

People have opinions, ok.Nerd_Man

I remember a friend of mine in high school kept raving about it, insisting that I should watch it immediately. Finally, I decided to watch it. I thought it was pretty bad. I thought the only redeemable quality was Norton. I haven't watched it since. He was completely shocked to hear this. From what I noticed, a lot of high school males seem to be obsessed with it.sammyjenkis898

From what I notice a lot of high school males want to hate on the general consensus, fight the power and all that... Fight club is a great film and portrays a great dark view of the world with some brilliant humour.

To the person who claims the film is not intellegent, you are saying more about yourself than this movie with a statement like that.