Fight Club, Memento, and The Machinist.

I feel that these 3 psychological thrillers share the same concept but have their differences. Although all 3 movies are staggeringly awesome, some are better than the others. In your opinion, how would you order these from greatest to least? I'd very much like to hear MDF's view on this.

Personally, I can't answer my own question.

I may be cheating, But this is what I would say.

1.Machinist- I chose the Machinist first because, Christian Bale's devotion to this role completely made the movie go above and beyond cinema's comprehension. Look at the guy, That is honestly the single most amazing thing I have ever seen any actor do for a film. Not to mention the film was amazing in every sense.

2.Fight club & Memento- I tied the both because they both have their very strong points. Fightclub and Memento have great cinematography, but memento goes that extra mile when it comes right down to the cinematography. But entertainment wise Fight Club had me a little more than Memento did. I'm in no way saying Memento was boring, but Fight Club had that edge, it wouldn't let you take your eyes off for a second.

1. Fight Club
2. Memento
3. The Machinist

I was hoping that

Spoiler:
Bale ended up NOT being crazy, and bring some originality into the story

is the machinist new? i gotta see it if your ranking it above memento and fight club.

Originally posted by Phat J
is the machinist new? i gotta see it if your ranking it above memento and fight club.

It's not necessarily better than Fight club/memento. But Bale astonishes me to no end. But then again don't get me wrong, The machinist is excellent IMO. 2004 flick. I may get some discouragement on my opinion, but I'm not budging.

I haven't seen 'The Machinist' yet, but I'd rate 'Memento' above the popcorn fun of 'Fight Club' any day of the week.

Bale is great but he's no Ed Norton.

1. Fight Club
2. Memento
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3. The Machinist

I liked The Machinist but it is not even close to the other 2. Hell, if you want a psychological Bale movie with a twist, I suggest American Psycho. That one can compete with the other two films. I can't think of anything to improve Fight Club or Memento. The Machinist? Easy, get rid of the guy that reminds me of white Morpheous.

I agree with you a lot mando, but I side with Solo a bit as well. I suspected (I basically knew) what was more or less going to happen in The Machinist. The movie was great don't get me wrong, but when the tag line said it was 'Fight club meets Memento', it ruined it for me a bit.

Originally posted by Nevermind
, but when the tag line said it was 'Fight club meets Memento', it ruined it for me a bit.

Where did it say that?

IMDB says the Taglines are:

'How do you wake up from a nightmare if you're not asleep?'

'Trevor Reznick is four letters away from the truth.'

'A little guilt goes a long way...'

But even IMDB isn't reliable.

Originally posted by Myth
The Machinist? Easy, get rid of the guy that reminds me of white Morpheous.

Allen was a great character. He did what the Director intended him to do. You hated him, you loathed him, you wanted him out of the picture. Hince the big toe on his index finger, who wouldn't hate that? And that excuse for a smile bothered me. I hated the character with a passion. But he was a colorful character. None the less

For me,

Memento
Fight Club
The Machinist

I adore all three films, but adore Memento immensely, fabulous film.

Yeah, that Fight Club meets Memento thing on the posters really ruined The Machinist. And really that's all it felt like. It didn't feel original at all... It's still a good watch though.

Memento > Fight Club >>>> The Machinist

Ya Krunk'd Floo, I am opposite of you, I felt somehow violated by Memento, and really enjoyed Fight Club after reading the book first.
Maybe I need to watch Memento again!

I just put the Machinist on my netflix list. I look forward to it.

Originally posted by Mando
Where did it say that?

IMDB says the Taglines are:

'How do you wake up from a nightmare if you're not asleep?'

'Trevor Reznick is four letters away from the truth.'

'A little guilt goes a long way...'

But even IMDB isn't reliable.

Sorry, it wasn't really a tag line, it was a viewer comment from some magazine. I was going to correct it before, but I couldn't be stuffed. It was some quote from some one they used on their poster down here. It really ruined the movie.

"Fight Club", "The Machinist", then "Memento" for me, having seen all 3 very recently.

Reason I put "Fight Club" first is namely the style. The narration, the cinematography, which isn't limited to actual camera work, but the overall applied works, i.e. Jack's apartment furnishings appearing in his condo with the prices out of the Ikea catalog, etc.

"The Machinist" is new to the game, but the fact of the matter is, as much as I love Christian Bale, and as effective as the movie was, the twist had been done before so many times, and the film itself was marketed all wrong.

"Memento" takes third place just because I thought it was a good movie, but at times the gimmick got frustrating to try and follow, with the end being almost totally incomprehensible. Confusion is bound to dock points. While there was nothing wrong with Christopher Nolan's directing, he himself seemed a little confused. Those who liked this one would find a lot of the same elements in his first movie called "Following".

"Memento" takes third place just because I thought it was a good movie, but at times the gimmick got frustrating to try and follow, with the end being almost totally incomprehensible.

I agree 100%. I always saw the editing and style of Memento as a gimmick as well. Glad I'm not alone there. Thought it was pretty overrated, in all honesty.

As for the other two - Fight Club I also think is a tad overrated. It's a good movie, no doubt, but it's pacing and tone seem very sparatic and confused. It went from serious, to silly, to having a silly twist, back to serious, ect. But, like CA said, the cinematography was ace so it gets major props for that.

I really liked the Machinist. It was a nice, no gimmick, old fassioned mystery and was refreshing to see a film not dependant on wierd gimmicks or silly twists.

Originally posted by BackFire
As for the other two - Fight Club I also think is a tad overrated. It's a good movie, no doubt, but it's pacing and tone seem very sparatic and confused. It went from serious, to silly, to having a silly twist, back to serious, ect. But, like CA said, the cinematography was ace so it gets major props for that.

I noticed that. It tried so hard to stay in one mood. But they really couldn't have done it. Not with the type of characters in the story anyhow.

--

My Favorite scene in 'Memento' is in the very beginning of the film. Whenever Guy pierce is shaking the camera, and it shows him shooting the John G. in the head in reverse. That was pure Gold, and was done excellently.

It's hard to say:

Fight Club was probably the best overall film
The Machinist was delivered by an always great performance by Christian Bale
Memento was just beautiful and the cinematography was amazing.

But Fight Club was the best in overall.

Fight Club
Memento
The Machinist

same for me fight club,memento and then the machinist

Originally posted by BackFire
I agree 100%. I always saw the editing and style of Memento as a gimmick as well.

I understand if you didn't like it because you found it confusing. However, as for gimmick, I don't think of it as a gimmick because I don't think the movie would have worked if it wasn't edited to be viewed in reverse. The whole movie you feel sorry for Guy Pearce and you are suspiscious of Joe Pantoliano. If it was in the right order, you would already know the twist that Guy is now after Joe and not the actual rapist.

Originally posted by Myth
I understand if you didn't like it because you found it confusing. However, as for gimmick, I don't think of it as a gimmick because I don't think the movie would have worked if it wasn't edited to be viewed in reverse. The whole movie you feel sorry for Guy Pearce and you are suspiscious of Joe Pantoliano. If it was in the right order, you would already know the twist that Guy is now after Joe and not the actual rapist.

Good point. 👆

The Film would have been extremley boring in chronological order. The fact that it was in reverse comletley caught, and demanded my attention for the remainder of the movie.

Originally posted by Myth
I understand if you didn't like it because you found it confusing. However, as for gimmick, I don't think of it as a gimmick because I don't think the movie would have worked if it wasn't edited to be viewed in reverse. The whole movie you feel sorry for Guy Pearce and you are suspiscious of Joe Pantoliano. If it was in the right order, you would already know the twist that Guy is now after Joe and not the actual rapist.

On the special edition DVD you can view the film in chronological order and many people find it supperior, and it still has the same message, outcome and tone, in short, it worked just as well.