...mainly self-important nonsense, even when it's poking fun at its own nonsense.
Video:
I can make no complaints whatever about the movie's THX-mastered sound and picture. Indeed, the audiovisual aspects of the film are so good that Fox even include a series of tests to ensure one's TV and sound system are up the task of reproducing them accurately. These tests basically duplicate the ones on most standard DVD setup discs, like "Video Essentials" from Image, but they're handy to have if one doesn't already have such a disc. The tests include color calibration, brightness, convergence, channel balance, channel-phase polarity, subwoofer integration, and other criteria for optimizing one's system. Having already long since gone through this routine, I found my setup coming through with flying colors, not a knob twist or a fine-tuning adjustment necessary. Still, it was reassuring to see this set of tests confirm the previous checks. Anyway, as I said, the picture and sound for "Fight Club" are fabulous.
Audio:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio (I dispensed with the alternative Dolby Surround) is very dynamic, with excellent localization in all five main speakers and particularly wide dynamic and frequency response. The picture quality, presented in a 2.21:1 ratio anamorphic widescreen, is equally good, very dark but perfectly clean and well defined. Forms and persons are distinct even within shadows, and considering that most of film's scenes are located in dimly lit bars, dilapidated old rooms, and dingy basements, the ability clearly to discern objects in darkness is imperative. Quite impressive, especially if you find it's worth watching the film more than once.
Extras:
Where the package really scores, however, is in the extras department. Here, Fox have outdone themselves. Disc one includes the movie itself plus four, count 'em, four, separate, full-feature audio commentary tracks. Some kind of record, no doubt. The first is with director David Fincher. Another is with Fincher and stars Pitt, Norton, and Carter. The third is with novelist Chuck Palahniak and screenwriter Jim Uhls. The fourth is with filmmakers Alex McDowell, Jeff Cronenweth, Michael Kaplan, and Kevin Haug. The catch: In order to listen to all four commentaries, a person would have to sit through the film four more times, a grim prospect. Only a devoted "Fight Club" zealot would even consider the ordeal. Spoken languages are in English and French. Subtitles are in English and Spanish.
Disc two contains most of the bonus materials. A cast and crew index includes eighteen individual biographies, probably another record. Numerous behind-the-scenes looks at the filmmaking process are accompanied by various camera angles and sound options, chosen by the user beforehand. Seven deleted scenes are included, not only shown straight but set against their alternatives in the finished movie for closer examination. Additionally, there are three trailers, seventeen TV spots, five Internet spots, and one music video; plus lobby cards, advertising posters, press kits, story boards, costume and makeup photos, voluminous stills, and thirty-six chapter selections.
Parting Shots:
Yes, the DVDs live up to their potential. But as far as I'm concerned, it all goes for naught. "Fight Club" is an incredibly brutal and pretentious film ostensibly about alienation in a modern desensitized world, a not-very-funny or thought-provoking black comedy that entertains only on the most superficial level. I know I'm overreacting; forgive me. The two things I can say positively for the film, though, are that it does have its surprises and it ends with a bang. Its R rating is deserved for exceptionally graphic violence, profanity, nudity, and sex.
I can make no complaints whatever about the movie's THX-mastered sound and picture. Indeed, the audiovisual aspects of the film are so good that Fox even include a series of tests to ensure one's TV and sound system are up the task of reproducing them accurately. These tests basically duplicate the ones on most standard DVD setup discs, like "Video Essentials" from Image, but they're handy to have if one doesn't already have such a disc. The tests include color calibration, brightness, convergence, channel balance, channel-phase polarity, subwoofer integration, and other criteria for optimizing one's system. Having already long since gone through this routine, I found my setup coming through with flying colors, not a knob twist or a fine-tuning adjustment necessary. Still, it was reassuring to see this set of tests confirm the previous checks. Anyway, as I said, the picture and sound for "Fight Club" are fabulous.
Audio:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio (I dispensed with the alternative Dolby Surround) is very dynamic, with excellent localization in all five main speakers and particularly wide dynamic and frequency response. The picture quality, presented in a 2.21:1 ratio anamorphic widescreen, is equally good, very dark but perfectly clean and well defined. Forms and persons are distinct even within shadows, and considering that most of film's scenes are located in dimly lit bars, dilapidated old rooms, and dingy basements, the ability clearly to discern objects in darkness is imperative. Quite impressive, especially if you find it's worth watching the film more than once.
Extras:
Where the package really scores, however, is in the extras department. Here, Fox have outdone themselves. Disc one includes the movie itself plus four, count 'em, four, separate, full-feature audio commentary tracks. Some kind of record, no doubt. The first is with director David Fincher. Another is with Fincher and stars Pitt, Norton, and Carter. The third is with novelist Chuck Palahniak and screenwriter Jim Uhls. The fourth is with filmmakers Alex McDowell, Jeff Cronenweth, Michael Kaplan, and Kevin Haug. The catch: In order to listen to all four commentaries, a person would have to sit through the film four more times, a grim prospect. Only a devoted "Fight Club" zealot would even consider the ordeal. Spoken languages are in English and French. Subtitles are in English and Spanish.
Disc two contains most of the bonus materials. A cast and crew index includes eighteen individual biographies, probably another record. Numerous behind-the-scenes looks at the filmmaking process are accompanied by various camera angles and sound options, chosen by the user beforehand. Seven deleted scenes are included, not only shown straight but set against their alternatives in the finished movie for closer examination. Additionally, there are three trailers, seventeen TV spots, five Internet spots, and one music video; plus lobby cards, advertising posters, press kits, story boards, costume and makeup photos, voluminous stills, and thirty-six chapter selections.
Parting Shots:
Yes, the DVDs live up to their potential. But as far as I'm concerned, it all goes for naught. "Fight Club" is an incredibly brutal and pretentious film ostensibly about alienation in a modern desensitized world, a not-very-funny or thought-provoking black comedy that entertains only on the most superficial level. I know I'm overreacting; forgive me. The two things I can say positively for the film, though, are that it does have its surprises and it ends with a bang. Its R rating is deserved for exceptionally graphic violence, profanity, nudity, and sex.
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]4487[/release]