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Naminator · 06-01-2002, 08:06 PM

All right, let me say this first - Fight Club is my favorite movie of all time. I've seen the movie countless times, and I own the book, and have read it 3 times.

Now, let me get to what i want to say...

I believe the transaction Dave Fincher made from the book to the movie was the smartest thing he's done in his entire career. The novel is full with ideas, yes, but think about this - if Fincher would have stayed true to the book, ie Harry Potter, then this would just be some psychological tale with absolutely no plot. There were just SO many ideas in the novel that it nearly seems overwhelming, and it takes over the plot in the story, which is the most crucial point in film. Viewers don't want to be bombarded with thoughts, because that's not why they go to a movie. To have these concepts be brought upon in a professional manner, they need strong character development - something novels have the advantage for, compared to film. Film has to sacrifice character for plot, to keep the story moving.

Also, Fincher made another good decision by putting more plot development into the character of Tyler Durden. A key example would be in the car sequence, in which the narrator gets in the accident with the Space Monkeys. In the novel, the person driving the car is a mechanic, who apparantly is looked up upon by Tyler. When he suddenly starts blasting the narrator with these concepts, it seems retarted, simply because we haven't seen this guy before. We don't know how he thinks, and how the narrator can react to these concepts he suddenly shouts out of nowhere. When Fincher switched him with Durden, it allowed that connection to be stepped up a notch, since the narrator looks up to TYLER, instead of some no-name we suddenly saw tossed into the fray.

Finally, another point that no one mentions is the rather outrageous ending that the novel has, in which it totally destroys the movie, in my opinion. I can understand the connection of rather being dead than having to put up with Tyler anymore, but come on - the novel was just plain STUPID. I feel that the strongest ending for both the novel and the film would be for the narrator to kill himself along with Tyler, have a brief flashback of his life, screen goes black, and then he makes some kind of statement about the story - sounds a little simplistic, i know.

Anyways, that's my 2 cents.

06-01-2002, 08:06 PM	#12 (permalink)
Naminator Actor Join Date: Feb 2002	All right, let me say this first - Fight Club is my favorite movie of all time. I've seen the movie countless times, and I own the book, and have read it 3 times. Now, let me get to what i want to say... I believe the transaction Dave Fincher made from the book to the movie was the smartest thing he's done in his entire career. The novel is full with ideas, yes, but think about this - if Fincher would have stayed true to the book, ie Harry Potter, then this would just be some psychological tale with absolutely no plot. There were just SO many ideas in the novel that it nearly seems overwhelming, and it takes over the plot in the story, which is the most crucial point in film. Viewers don't want to be bombarded with thoughts, because that's not why they go to a movie. To have these concepts be brought upon in a professional manner, they need strong character development - something novels have the advantage for, compared to film. Film has to sacrifice character for plot, to keep the story moving. Also, Fincher made another good decision by putting more plot development into the character of Tyler Durden. A key example would be in the car sequence, in which the narrator gets in the accident with the Space Monkeys. In the novel, the person driving the car is a mechanic, who apparantly is looked up upon by Tyler. When he suddenly starts blasting the narrator with these concepts, it seems retarted, simply because we haven't seen this guy before. We don't know how he thinks, and how the narrator can react to these concepts he suddenly shouts out of nowhere. When Fincher switched him with Durden, it allowed that connection to be stepped up a notch, since the narrator looks up to TYLER, instead of some no-name we suddenly saw tossed into the fray. Finally, another point that no one mentions is the rather outrageous ending that the novel has, in which it totally destroys the movie, in my opinion. I can understand the connection of rather being dead than having to put up with Tyler anymore, but come on - the novel was just plain STUPID. I feel that the strongest ending for both the novel and the film would be for the narrator to kill himself along with Tyler, have a brief flashback of his life, screen goes black, and then he makes some kind of statement about the story - sounds a little simplistic, i know. Anyways, that's my 2 cents.