After I saw it the first time, it made me feel all excited inside (and not just because of Brad Pitt's rock hard body all over the screen - which to be fair was super hot). It was a movie that really showed me the potential of the movie medium, and watching it again (I've seen it more than a couple times, but I haven't seen it in probably at least 5 years), it brought back all those feelings. This movie is rich and full - the editing, the design, the story telling style - the special effects are detailed and motivated and still hold up 12 years later...and the sound, come on, the sound.
It's a movie that really uses all its resources, as a movie, to immerse the viewer. A lot of people think that books are always better than the movie, but I think that's usually because the movie is trying to engage the viewer like a book, when it should be engaging us like a movie. That's what this movie did, and it really opened my eyes to that idea...and by the way, this movie is better than the book. But, it has it's flaws too (which also - by the way - are worse in the book). The most prominent to me is something I didn't actually notice when I first saw this movie at 19. Let me just say it this way. A story that carves out intricate, dynamic, layered male characters and interesting worlds in which those male characters can act, yet either fails to do the same for the existing female characters or fails to recognize that female characters could be engaged in the worlds that have been created - well a movie like that is not as rich or as innovative as it could be, and let me tell ya - there are a lot of these stories out there.
Also on a similar note, I just want to mention something, because it is so clearly a result of a male lazily writing a female. Marla - the only big female role in the movie is weird and surface interesting, but sadly has no dynamism in this script and ends up just being a classic 1-dimensional girlfriend character but with a darker exterior. Anyway, she walks up to the main character and tells him she's wearing a bridesmaid dress she got from a thrift store. She says something to the effect that "someone loved this dress intensely for 1 day." First off, it's common knowledge that women generally don't like bridesmaid dresses. And secondly, even if someone likes their bridesmaid dress, I feel pretty confident in saying that no woman in the history of weddings has ever loved her bridesmaid dress intensely - ever. So, I'm not saying a man can't write a woman, because I think it can be done well. What I do want to say though, to my dear Fight Club, is that a man can't write a woman well when he is merely thinking about his version of a female stereotype and writing what he thinks this pretend idea of a woman might say and do. That's all I'm gonna say about that. Otherwise I love the film - except I have to do a little more critiquing, because that's what an SSL Review is all about.
Here's some critical points we can confidently know; specifically points that are important in understanding what this movie insinuates about female sexual response.
1.Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) is fantastic in bed. We know this because Marla says he is, and I see no sign of sarcasm or irony when she says this.
