Fight Club

Book, 1996; Movie, 1999, R

Premise - A "fight club" is enacted to strip men down to their most basic and fundamental aspects - life, death, and the fear of moving from one to the other. Everything else that supposedly comes with human existence, like consumer capitalism, careers, and purpose, should not only be done away with, but violently destroyed.

Review - This is my "second" favorite film of all time. In many ways, it's my absolute favorite film, but Titanic has been a favorite of mine for more years, so I have to say Titanic is my favorite film for nostalgic purposes. Even though I call Fight Club my "second" favorite, I still believe it to be absolutely flawless. A mind-blowing roller coaster, I never tire of watching it. No matter how many times I watch this movie (which is a lot), I still discover something new to analyze. I think the merit of this film is endless, and it's impossible to discuss it all at once. I have read and cherished the book as well, but my inevitable preference is for the cinematic masterpiece.

At the heart of the film are themes of anarchy vs. control, identity (individualism vs. the collective), masculinity vs. emasculation, and capitalism vs. fascism. These are large topics, yet the film manages to balance and integrate them all without fault. I cannot do it justice, but here's a start. Our nameless "everyman" narrator has, quite literally, no identity. He's a copy of a copy of a copy, like the consumer products that surround him, and even in his own consciousness has two distinct personalities. To Tyler Durden, the narrator's alternate identity, the safety associated with a consumer lifestyle is as emasculating as testicular cancer. However, Tyler desires anarchy and freedom so deeply that he ends up becoming the fascist cult leader he should theoretically despise, coming full circle.

I absolutely love the psychological aspects of the film. Fight Club explores castration complexes, insomnia, and dissociation (with a specific nod to Dissociative Identity Disorder). It's a look at the fragility of masculinity, hedonics (and perhaps the inverse of it), and existential terror. I realize at this point I'm just listing themes instead of delving into them, but that's how complex of a film this is. I wouldn't even know where to start. In essence, Fight Club is about accepting the fact that we're going to die and life doesn't mean anything. The closest we can get to actually living is by straddling the line between life and death, and escaping. We shouldn't need material things. We shouldn't need love and care. We don't need anything, because we aren't anything. Unfortunately, with this philosophy, comes the exact problems you denounce. By creating "fight club," Tyler re-establishes order more fervently than it had ever been.

All of that comes with one of the greatest plot twists cinema has ever seen (I've already spoiled it here), in that the narrator and Tyler are actually the same person. Every time somebody tells me that they have never seen Fight Club, I force them to watch it with me just so I can see their reaction to the twist. It's the best film ever (100/100).

Quote - "On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero."

What to watch for - After the film is watched once, it has to be watched again, to see how it all fits together.

If you liked this book and/or movie, I'd recommend Mr. Robot!

Written by Chuck Palahniuk
Published by W. W. Norton
Director: David Finch
Distribution Company: 20th Century Fox