Fight club Review-first rule of…
Fight Club is a 1999 American film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. It is based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. Norton plays the unnamed narrator, who is discontented with his white-collar job. He forms a “fight club” with soap salesman Tyler Durden (Pitt), and becomes embroiled in a relationship with him and a destitute woman, Marla Singer (Bonham Carter).
Tyler’s character is undoubtedly the most interesting thing about this film, an excellent performance by Brad Pitt, he really brings out the grit dynamicness in Tyler. Initially we are introduced to the ‘narrator’ unnamed and unidentifiable which is the biggest irony of this film. His world takes a drastic turn when he meets Tyler who gives him an ‘Identity’ and together they start a fight club. While watching this film you’ll have plenty of questions that you will find answers for in the process, the most common one being why is Tyler such a huge part of the narrator’s life?…sometimes you view the film from the narrator’s point of view and then it immediately switches over to a third person perspective, it’ll get confusing.. your head will be throbbing but you can’t get enough of this movie. I always have this film at the top of my list for many exciting reasons you’ll find out.
The reason Fight Club is so easy to misunderstand is that Fincher beautifully sets up both the narrator’s depression and Tyler’s appeal. The narrator is a victim of capitalism, unable to forge real human connections so instead he fills his life with stuff. Then you have Tyler who, at the outset, espouses an alluring philosophy. Tyler represents “freedom” from the modern world. He isn’t dependent on anything. He steals the fat he needs for soap and works odd jobs that allow him to pull juvenile pranks on the world. Tyler, portrayed with utmost confidence by Pitt, has everything figured out and speaks to a post-capitalist malaise where men, trapped by crummy jobs and “cheated” out the things they were “promised” (being millionaires, movie gods, and rock stars), can only feel alive by beating the crap out of each other in darkened basements.
These elements—the grotesqueness of the narrator’s existence coupled with the appeal of Tyler’s offer—are meant to bring us into the understanding of why anyone would find a fight club interesting in the first place. Fincher puts our sympathies with the narrator, which makes sense since he’s the protagonist. We have to go where he goes and Fincher knows that the audience isn’t just going to automatically accept living in a dilapidated home and punching other dudes for jollies. If Fight Club has a problem, it’s that Fincher makes that lifestyle so interesting that some audience members don’t follow the turn into rejection and see why Tyler’s philosophy is so deeply flawed.Tyler Durden’s philosophy is essentially one that pinpoints a real problem—the disconnect of the postmodern age fueled by capitalism and alienation—and offers a child’s solution.
From the acting, to the soundtrack, the scenery, the story telling, it’s such a trip to go through and makes you feel like you’re right in the protagonist’s shoes and you’re also going completely postal. It has really deep themes of manhood and true happiness and violence and what it overall really means to be human and it twists and contorts your views of the life you live and really makes you think deeply about the every day to day life you live.Even Marla’s character is so well sketched out just like Tyler’s, from costume design to their distinctive way of speaking…Fincher has an excellent eye for detail. Undoubtedly he’s an amazing screenwriter, but ‘Fight club’ just comes to life with its unique art direction- green,grey and red undertones to match the gritty and dark nature of the film. Fight Club doesn’t offer answers to the struggles of the world, but a critique. It’s not a celebration of directionless men, but rather that the modern world has commodified everything to the point where toxic masculinity becomes its own brand. An extraordinary trip watching this film!
