Considered to be a cult classic from the 90's, Fight Club is a film that is just as underrated as it is overrated. When it was first released in the 90's, it didn't get a lot of notoriety despite the film's unique style and visuals. On the other hand, though, if you talk to almost any film school student, you'll find them talking about how Fight Club is one the grandest masterpieces to ever come out in the history of cinema. Others even claim Fight Club to be this deep, philosophical, and complex fight-the-system film. While it's definitely nowhere near either of those areas, the film is still good enough to keep one interested.

In Fight Club, we follow an unnamed narrator who's struggling with insomnia. In his struggle, the narrator must also deal with his seemingly dull, pointless, and labor-filled life where, he feels, he's being controlled by his society. While going to a variety of self-help groups helps him at first, this much needed aid goes wrong after the introduction of Marla, our narrator's femme fatale. It isn't long, though, before our narrator meets a revolutionary man by the name of Tyler Durden, who loathes the facade of society just as much as our narrator, who wishes to 'fight the system' in any way he can.

The unique style of the film is the first thing I'd like to mention, as it sort of mixes together stylistic themes of noirs/neo-noirs while also having its own style of grittiness to it - especially during the scenes in the basement used for the fight club. The film also isn't afraid to break the fourth wall, which I admired especially during the multiple flashbacks of the film, as well as during our "introduction" to Tyler Durden as presented by the narrator. The style has a great flair to it, making it have a great, slick, yet also gritty look.

The narrative of the story is also quite interesting, and it plays well for what it's worth. There were never any moments where I thought the film tried too far or didn't go far enough, as it had a good narrative balance to it. I don't have too much else to say on the narrative other than this, but - as i said before - it's good enough to be entertaining/interesting.

Despite it's high points, however, the film has a lot of shortcomings. Firstly, the characters , while interesting, just don't really feel characters during a lot of points during the film. Instead, they feel like soapboxes and broken record players, just being used to spout the film's philosophical elements. Next, throughout the entire running, the film feels very cluttered and disjointed in its pacing. Instead of having multiple connected scenes that help develop character, we just go from scene to scene while characters try and get: some laughs/light development.

The film also can drag quite a bit during the middle, and I can't help but wonder if some scenes could have just been cut. Not entirely, mind you, but enough to pick things up during the third act, which includes the really lame twist ending. I'll try not to spoil it, but it feels more gimmicky than anything.

Fight Club isn't a film classic, nor is it all that great. However, the film is quite unique and the visuals hold an ambiance that holds the atmosphere together. The characters can also be quite interesting, when they're not off spouting teen-logic "fight the machine" propaganda. It has big flaws, but Fight Club still manages to be unique enough to stop it from being anywhere near a 'bad movie'.

7/10 - Good