People either love Fight Club or hate Fight Club, there's really not a lot of middle ground. Actually, what annoys me more than anything is people who like Fight Club, but for all the wrong reasons. Here's a sample of one of way too many conversations I've had about Fight Club with co-workers, people in line, my social worker, yadda yadda.
Random Person: Hey, you're Mr. Movie Guy, what did you think of Fight Club?
Me: It's one of my favorite movies of the 90's! I love the social commentary, black humor, the quotability, and man-o-man, can Fincher shoot a film or what?
Random Person: (Puzzled look for three seconds, followed by): Yeah, man! I love it too! Wasn't it off the freakin' hook? I can't decide whether my favorite scene is when Norton is beating the crap out of that retarded kid from My So-Called Life, or if it's when Brad Pitt got beat down by that bar owner guy. Man, he just POUNDED on him! I haven't seen a such a kick-ass movie since Best Of The Best 3: No Turning Back.
Me: (Slowly backing away) Cool deal. Well, I have to go slit my wri-
Random Person: Oh yeah, and remember Meat Loaf had tits?? He was a guy, and he had huge tits! HAHAHA! TITS!
Every time I have a conversation like that, I die a little.
So anyway, remember how anti-consumerism and anti-commercialism Fight Club was? How selling out was pretty much the worst crime a person could commit? Well, the jury is still out on whether Chuck Palahniuk is or is not his khakis, but I was pretty damn surprised to see a trailer (Windows Media/Quicktime) for a Fight Club video game, coming soon to your Playstation 2 or Xbox.
Article comments
1 - Keith Sikora
Wasn't the point of the fighting not to win, but rather just to feel alive? So, how can they make a videogame out of that?
2 - jon
because the Goverment are idiots looking for money. watch bloodsport. or kickboxer or even best of the best. they are good martial arts films and hardly anyone knows of them. martial arts is for self-defence only! not for another persons profit.
3 - Marty
I agree with everything you say because your right i was so disgusted when i first saw that game
4 - Jesse
Over-analysis leads to under-understanding (oops, nested prefixes there). Movies are worth appreciating at every level... see Falling Down: brilliant psychological twists, but also pretty rad, seeing a gritty Michael Douglas walk across a bridge in LA carrying a bag of guns. Fight Club was the same, but even more so: smart, psychologically engaging social commentary, but also simplistic, enjoyable bad-ass.
A Fight Club puzzle or adventure game is a fascinating idea, but it's called Fight Club... a fighting game is the most obvious choice. Now apparently the game sucks in itself, but in saying so, the reviewer at least gives the concept a chance to prove itself.
So the game sucks. But is it an ideological crime against the movie? If you think so, you're giving Fight Club a pretty narrow reading.
(PS: Okay, you're right, if people think beating up "retards" or ethnic stereotypes is awesome, then they deserve a dose of the 20th century. But aside from that, enjoying it for the entertainment value is just as valid as enjoying it for the social commentary)