Fight Club [Blu-ray] [1999]

Product Information

Nihilistic – Other than the high-profile cast, willingly indulging themselves into excruciating lessons in self-mutilation, I am unsure why one would want to see Fight Club (is this actually a good reason to see this film?). One could argue that their gradual moral degradation is what makes this film an intriguing watch, but its narrative hardly sustains such a read. On the contrary, Fight Club focuses exclusively on the main protagonists' destructive actions, and by doing so, it eliminates any possibility of being read as a credible condemnation of violence. Includes three trailers, 17 TV spots, 5 internet spots, 2 hilarious public service announcements, a

People often ask me “What’s your favorite DVD?” to which I respond “My favorite DVD or my favorite movie?” Yes, I know, everyone loves a question answered with a question don’t they? Still, when it comes to my favorite piece of audio from my DVD (now Blu-ray) library, it begins and ends with the plane collision sequence in this film. Now this sounded good in Dolby Digital 5.1 EX a decade ago. My receiver has changed but my speakers haven’t. So the first thing I did was skip to the chapter where this sequence was. Wow. Amazing. I though my apartment building was going to crumble. I turned the receiver up to where I usually hold it and let ‘er rip. Have I said “Wow. Amazing.” yet? Ok, I have. This really is one of the best audio mixes on disc and if you’ve never heard “Fight Club” in uncompressed sound then this is something you must do before you die. Once you get past the “Booms” and “Thuds” the remainder of the dialogue sounds very warm and uncompromising – essentially everything you’d expect from this movie. Quite simply put, this is the best all-around example of sound on a movie that I own. Supplements: What are the extras? Is Fight Club perfect? No, it feels drawn out at times and the conclusion can be dissatisfying to some, but it is an experience unlike any other. You may not watch it multiple times in a year, but its definitely a film worth having in your collection for dark and rainy days. Brain Ride Map- This section has a wealth of drawings concerning this sequence, so you see how the early sketches and descriptions compare to the finished product. Text descriptions are also included, so you’ll know every inch of the brain ride before it’s all said and done. Durden would put it, "the bi-products of a lifestyle obsession." Cognitively preprogrammed for brandHaving seen this movie at least a couple dozen times since 'Fight Club's' 2000 DVD bow, I was still excited to see what this disc's MPEG-4 AVC 1080p transfer (2.40:1 aspect ratio) had in store. And, without reservation, I can say that this transfer delivers. bright and clean—with artificial sharpening and all traces of grain digitally scrubbed to oblivion— Two other points about violence stand out: First, the one time he takes a fight to far and disfigures a fellow member, it is at a point in the film where he is about to go over the edge; a turning point. This movie left me with the strong impression of watching one of the most aggressive criticisms towards the dangers of excessive consumerism, of my generation.

Does it deliver in the ways you'd expect? Not exactly. While Fox claims that David Fincher was deeply involved with the production of this Blu-ray, his involvement isn't really apparent anywhere (save for a cute Easter Egg I'll get to in a minute). Considering Fincher was knee-deep into pre-production on 'The Social Network' (aka 'The Facebook Movie'), I don't think he devoted a whole lot of time or attention to this release. Remember the 'Seven' DVD that had Fincher explaining how he re-corrected every frame of the movie? There's nothing like that here. Ed Norton's no name character is living a banal, materialistic yuppie life. He has no friends, no gal, and his possessions define him. Low and behold, he can't sleep.Deleted Scenes (SD) There are seven scenes here, which total around 16 minutes. Many of them are just alternate versions of scenes already in the movie, like a more explicit sequence where Jared Leto gets pulverized, and a "tonally" darker scene where Ed Norton threatens his boss. These minor tweaks equal major changes, and it's really interesting to see. A text screen describing what the scene is, and why it was changed or deleted precedes each scene in this section. The screen also gives you context to where it would have been in the movie. For example, there's that scene after the car crash where Tyler Durden is giving his grand view for a post-apocalyptic utopia. The little screen says something "notice how the simple addition of fades adds so much" which is kind of trite - but totally true! This is highly recommended.

Plot: What’s it about? Video: How does it look? Audio: How does it sound? Supplements: What are the extras? Plot: What’s it about? This area is filled with artwork from the production of the film. Below the content is broken down by divisions. either the point in the film where it's referenced, or to the appropriate featurette in the special This area contains seven deleted sequences, with description as to why the scenes were removed. Each of the deleted scenes also includes the original, for comparison’s sake. These scenes include an encounter with Chloe after a support group meeting, an alternate take of the fight with Angel Face, a voice over difference during the board meeting, deleted bookends to the fight with the boss, an alternate take on Tyler’s good-bye, an alternate take on the Fight Club paper found in the copier, and of course, the infamous “I want to have you abortion” line. Fincher then followed up the successful Seven with the dark thriller, The Game, which returned his work to the darker, less commercial area. The Game was a solid and thrilling film, but it left me wanting more from Fincher. After years of directing commercials and music videos, Fincher has truly become an elite director now, thanks to his incredible work on this film, Fight Club. I was skeptical to say the least on what Fincher could do with this movie, given the excellent and complex novel the film was based on. But Fincher has proven himself to me and the film business with this movie, and I have to admit it now ranks as one of my all time favorites, and one of the finest directorial turns I’ve seen. This marks Fincher’s best effort to date, and I have serious doubts if he can top this movie. While that might prove difficult to do, I certainly hope he can do it, and I look forward to Fincher’s future projects.This is a behind the scenes area, where the content is divided into three sections. Below I have broken down the content within each. Despite being marketed as a 10th Anniversary release, Fight Club is surprisingly short on new and exclusive extras. In fact, there are only three new Blu-ray exclusive features on the disc, which include the following: The rant that Tyler delivers to the fight club, encapsulates some of the concerns the movie wants to bring the audience to brood upon. It is one of the few congruent lines thrown in your lap to understand the movie and the issues brought to light. Issues related to living lives without meaning, in mechanic jobs we hate, to buy stuff conditioned by the media to, but that we really don't truly need. We've become consumer droids. Space monkeys conditioned to press buttons towards oblivion. The media offers its carrot: fame, fortune, and every Ego-booster conceivable. And if the entanglement is rooted on the ego logic, ego perception and egotistic behavior it only messes up the problem further. All reinforces the need to gain awareness of the influence of the ego. It's sort of hard to fathom that 'Fight Club,' David Fincher's blistering thriller, was released ten years ago. It makes me feel very old. It was a film released in the midst of a wave of energetic filmmaking, made by a media savvy crop of young filmmakers that looked like it would affect the way that movies were made (and viewed) for the new millennium. Its Films of 1999 classmates included such boundary-pushing affairs as 'Being John Malkovich,' 'Three Kings,' 'Election,' 'The Matrix' and 'Magnolia' (imagine that yearbook). Standing amongst those giants, 'Fight Club' still towers as a singular experience, one that seems to almost burst with the limitless possibilities of turn-of-the-century filmmaking. Think about all those computer-assisted camera moves that zoomed through buildings and brains. We see those every week on the various 'CSI' series, but at the time nobody had done that before (or even thought to do that before). In fact, virtually every stylistic element of 'Fight Club,' from its opening title sequence to its casual mixture of violence and nihilism to its gotcha(!) twist ending have been aped, parodied, or shamelessly ripped off in the decade since its release.