Fight Club

So, on the strength of that, sans doubte, five stars: Norton is beautifully understated as the nameless narrator, Helena Bonham-Carter reveals the burned out sex-kitten side of herself that previously I could only fantasise existed, and Brad Pitt, always arch and aware, is as charismatic and magnetic as anyone I've seen on screen. Because he's so cool you tend to overlook the fact that he's an extraordinary actor as well.

But doubts began creeping into my mind the minute the first punch was thrown. They took a while to solidify - the game could have gone any one of a number of ways; the violence stayed intermittent and along with the punches there were some interesting (if, er, heavy handed) consumerism vs. individualism arguments getting thrown about, and there seemed to be a Brad Pitt as Jesus thread gathering pace, but suddenly everything went terribly wrong, the narrative ceased making any sense, and this clever, articulate and stylish film devolved into an ultra-violent, but otherwise pretty run-of-the-mill high-octane action movie.

What happened? Well, put some of it down to Curse Of The Twist. This is a phenomenon which really only started in earnest with the Crying Game, where the twist made the film; was followed (cleverly) by the Sixth Sense and (laboriously) by the Usual Suspects, and now seems to be obligatory way of finishing off a film where what seemed a great idea when it started turned out not to be (see for example the Shawshank Redemption, Signs, and A Beautiful Mind). Problem here is that the twist completely undoes all the good work done in the first hour of the film. A picture that was making some clever points in a pretty palatable way all of a sudden just doesn't any more. And all of a sudden there are lots of guns and lots of punching. Great.

And I'm not sure the twist even works (I'd have to watch it again, and to be honest I can't be bothered): the point of a twist is to give you a set of facts and imply that they should be interpreted in a certain way, and then to reveal the critical piece of information which reveals that everything must actually be viewed another way. I have a sense that some of the facts from the first half don't square with the revised scenario.

This was all immensely disappointing, because this could have been a great film - I still think the first 60 minutes is a great film, but I guess if they had stopped there then, on account of the lack of fighting, they couldn't have called it "Fight Club".

Olly Buxton

Not only do I hate this film but I find it inexplicable that someone of the calibre of Helena Bonham Carter should be willing to appear in it. It can have done her reputation no good (in my opinion). From the beauty of Merchant Ivory to this pretentious rubbish. What a come down. However, I must admit I didn't see the whole film; I was so sickened I couldn't watch any more.