Now, here's a challenge - how to take a novel that switches viewpoints and voices so rapidly that a Thursday Next novel would seem drab by comparison; a novel that consists, in the main, of pure narration; a novel that never even bothers to provide a name for its main character - and turn it into a film. Surprisingly, especially with Hollywood's history of mangling book-to-film conversions, it turned out surprisingly well.
Thankfully, a narrator was used for this film. It would have been nightmarish to see this acted out without one. From what I've read of the movie's history, that was their original intention, and took a man named Fincher to change their mind. Bravo, Fincher.
The imagery was certainly done well. Tyler's house in particular was a perfect representation of what was depicted in the book, with every scene set in it subtly reinforcing its decrepit status. Violence was well-choreographed and the blood, sweat and injuries were all realistic.
Cinematography was quite inventive, adding a lot to the content of the novel. Tyler pointing at the mark on the screen in the scene about film operations was inspired. Other notable effects included the "watermark" on the flashback scenes
The truly amazing and unexpected surprise was the masterful handling of Tyler Durden. The movie subtly hinted at his unreality throughout the film, yet never openly declared it before the unveiling. Perhaps most impressive was the subliminal imaging that flickered his image in and out throughout the beginning of the film.
All in all, a fantastic adaption of book to film. I still prefer the novel to the film, but that's only my pro-print bias. If every book that was taken to film was converted with this much skill, I'd certainly watch more movies.