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 Even though the first and second rules of Fight Club clearly state "you do not talk about Fight Club" I'm going to do it anyway because it's a bad-ass movie.
Based on the novel by the always disturbing Chuck Palahniuk, director David Fincher's big screen adaptation does not disappoint even after multiple viewings. In fact, I would personally recommend watching Fight Club several times just to pick up on all of the clever subtleties that can't possibly be noticed with one single viewing. Without giving away too much of the twisted plot of this film, here's a little summary of the action.
At the beginning of the film we meet "the Narrator", the main character whose name we never really learn, played by Edward Norton. Norton's character is a mild-mannered automotive company employee who begins to struggle with his role of determining, after often-times fatal car accidents, whether or not a recall is necessary for any given malfunctioning vehicle. Norton also begins to struggle with insomnia and as a way to keep busy while he can't sleep and allow himself to get some sort of catharsis he begins attending support groups for illnesses he doesn't really have so he can release some tension and maybe finally get some sleep. Norton's insomnia is at least partly caused by the travel he is forced to do for his job as he is troubled by the idea of falling asleep in one place and waking up in another. It is on one of these flights, however, that he meets Tyler Durden, the extremely personable soap salesman played by Brad Pitt. The two hit it off on the plane and Pitt gives Norton his number to call. Norton's character figures Durden will end up like one of the many other people he's sat next to on a flight and that he'll never see him but when Norton returns home to find that his apartment has been blown up he realizes he needs a place to stay so he gives Durden a call. From that point on things get pretty strange for our Narrator and his new friend. The two go from fighting each other for fun outside of a bar one night to starting an underground "fight club" that grows larger by the week with men interested in trying to beat the hell out of complete strangers. This effectively replaces our main character's need to attend support groups and actually draws other people away from support groups, too, most notably a character named Robert Paulson who has "bitch tits" played by the musician Meatloaf in a pretty much unforgettable role. As the fight club grows and starts inexplicably spreading to other cities we see Norton and Pitt living together, sharing in a strange love triangle with Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter), another acquaintance from Norton's support groups, and pondering the meaninglessness of life in today's society. Sounds pretty fun, right? Well, it apparently wasn't enough for Durden who, without much input from the Narrator, spins his fight club off into "Project Mayhem", a group that specializes in vandalism and all general peace-disturbing as seen through their destruction of public art and an ultimate attempt to blow up a large downtown building. Norton's character starts to realize what is going on and decides things have gone too far so he tries to put an end to it. He retraces the steps laid out in Durden's plan to blow up the building and jet set around the country only to be confused by the feeling that he'd been everywhere before and the fact that people keep calling him Tyler. Distraught, Norton calls Marla Singer and asks her to tell him his name. When she responds by saying "Tyler Durden" the Narrator finally realizes what's going on. But is it too late? The fact that this movie doesn't have a clear or happy ending is one reason why I think it is so amazing; a true "Ace" in my book. In a good many films there is a point the viewer reaches where they get an idea of how things are going to end up. With "Fight Club" director David Fincher doesn't really allow that to happen. Although the film is not quite as disturbing as the previous work Fincher (and Pitt) did with "Seven" he spares no expense in creating the disconnected and confused aura that surrounds the characters and story of "Fight Club." If you haven't seen "Fight Club" before you'll definitely be surprised by the outcome and how well put-together the film is, and if you have seen it, watch it again, I bet there will be at least a couple of things you didn't realize before. I've read the book and seen the movie God-knows-how-many times and I am still satisfied each time I see it. Kevin Meehan is a writer living in Pittsburgh.
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