Fight Club [Blu-ray] [1999]

Product Information

I was particularly looking forward to seeing the brief teaser trailer (which ran, amazingly, with 'Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace' that summer) in crystal-clean HD only to see a cropped, standard def teaser. On the whole this BD release is a whole lot clearer, sharper and better defined than the previous DVD release. There are a couple of periods of inactivity but the rest of the content more than makes up for the short breaks in this commentary track.

Cutting off people at the ankles is generally a composition no-no, and it seems likely they correctly concluded that nobody was going to be paying attention to Marla’s shoes during this scene anyway. I think not: Comparing frames by overlaying them throughout the feature I can see subtle geometric differences in the shots that suggest this is a fresh transfer. Similarly, when the action of the Fight Club leaks out into the real world, the track becomes even more muscular and visceral. This was necessary because the useful part of the resolution of 35mm motion picture film (MTF wise) is already captured in the 1999 transfer.AVC HD transfer is right up there with the best of them and there’s only a handful of scenes prohibiting me from awarding it a perfect score. You can also select “Commentary Guide” which allows you to view the topics discussed in one of the four commentary tracks. 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). While his work on Alien 3 drew more criticism that credit, his next film would thrust him into fame and recognition.

Adapted from Chuck Palahniuk's novel, David Fincher's drama explores themes of masculinity and violence in contemporary society. Tyler believes self improvement is for the weak - it's self destruction that really makes life worth living. There’s an enormous of amount of material in these sections to cull through, so you may want to set aside several hours to get through it all. For those who have been living under a rock for the past decade, the story of 'Fight Club' goes a little something… like this: Edward Norton plays a nameless office drone (keep in mind that 1999 was also the year that the office drone fought back - 'American Beauty,' 'Office Space') who works for an insurance company.There's also a lot of interesting trivia, such as how the “cold breath” from the ice cave scene was a surplus CGI effect from 'Titanic' which the producers decided to use! Starting up an illegal Fight Clubs to provide an outlet for his aggression and frustration (and to potentially cure his insomnia), it's not long before “Jack” (Norton) and his new best friend, Tyler Durden (Pitt), realise that their lives, and their club, are rapidly spiralling out of control. The club offers men a chance to feel alive again, and meanwhile Tyler and Marla have become quite close. The 1999 transfer has the advantage of being truer to the original theatrical presentation of Fight Club by not being digitally sharpened and having a few framing differences that are (probably) closer to the theatrical version.