I have only one interesting thing to write about Fight Club (1999), which has been written about many, many, many times before. Briefly, I want to say a few things about the DVD, and about DVDs in general.I have a small but growing DVD collection. I add to the collection based upon two criteria: 1) I love the film, and 2) the DVD has good extras, including a commentary track by the director. Here is my one interesting thing to say, which is a piece of advice too: if you are buying a DVD because there is an extra audio track, make sure the commentary is done by the director or some other person on the behind the camera crew. If one of the actors did the commentary, head for the hills. Most actors can not speak to why certain decisions were made in the movie-making process, therefore, their audio commentary tends to be an ass-kissing-fest of the first order. Consider two hours of commentary like this: “oh, such a brilliant performance . . . she is truly one of my favorite actors . . . and I’m not saying that just because we spent 4 months together . . .â€. Actors are not in a position to criticize the film making, but the director, and to a less extent other crew like the cinematographer, can criticize the film.
Some directors are very critical of their work and their relationship with the studio that backed the movie. Francis Ford Coppola in the commentary tracks on the Godfather films comes to mind. David Fincher does a credible job in the audio commentary of Fight Club, especially when he addresses the dynamics of getting the movie made through Fox, the company that backed the film. Other than a couple instances, like showing condoms floating in a toilet, the executives let Fincher make the film he wanted.