Fight Club (1999)

Director: David Fincher
Screenplay: Jim Uhls (based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk)
Cast: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter
Music: The Dust Brothers
Time: 139 minutes
Bottom-line: A classic! Unforgettable! 

1000 days of Revisiting Films, With KRK! 

                          In Tyler we trust... 
Once you’ve crossed the required age limit to be able to watch R rated films, Fight Club is the first film you should watch! What was initially viewed as one of the most controversial films for its violence and portrayal of criminal behaviour, eventually emerged as one of the most talked about cult classics of the 90s, and that’s precisely what it is! This is Fincher’s most successful film based on public ratings, as it is ranked #10 on IMDb’s top 250 films.

Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden

This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time. On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero. Meet the everyman, the unnamed narrator of the film (Norton). He works as an automobile company worker, suffering from insomnia. When he starts attending various support groups, he meets Marla Singer (Carter) who is also an imposter, without any actual disease or problem. On a flight back home, the narrator meets Tyler Durden (Pitt), a person who makes and sells soap. As they meet up in a bar, Tyler asks the narrator to “hit him as hard as he can”, and this starts a fistfight. As they continue doing this, several men are intrigued by this act, and soon Tyler and the narrator form a fight club in the bar’s basement, where men fight recreationally. As the club grows, it evolves into Project Mayhem, an anti-Corporate organisation. In this process the narrator starts to realise that the club is going out of control, just like his own life...

Edward Norton as The Narrator

The first thing I liked about the film is the portrayal of the narrator – he could be you or me, or just any ordinary white-collar-job person, doing the thing this quote mentions. He comes across a unique personality, Tyler, who introduces him to live the way he wants, instead of going with the crowd. While the actual story may focus more on the actual fighting and development of the fight club, it takes a second watch and some careful analysis to understand the meaning of the incidents. As Tyler says during the first fight, “How much can you know about yourself if you’ve never been in a fight?” That’s the idea the film develops on. As fight club grows, the narrator becomes more aware of who he really is... to say more would reveal too much.

Helena Bonham Carter as Marla Singer

The main highlights of the film are the acting, and the dialogues. This is one of Norton’s first films, and boy, has he given the best performance of his career! Playing the mentally unstable “everyman” required Norton to learn boxing and taekwondo, but the end result is well worth it. But the real star is the man playing his “teacher” – Brad Pitt. With numerous one-liners and as many meaningful quotes, the manner in which he portrays the smart, cunning and powerful Tyler makes it clear why this is widely considered his magnum opus. Bonham Carter superbly portrays the psychotic Marla Singer, whose significance is understood only on analysing the story.

Another quote from the movie. 

The most important part of the film is the twist ending. There are enough but very cleverly hidden clues throughout the film, be it in dialogues or the background. Once the film is over the ending may seem obvious, but when you’re watching, you are so engrossed in the web that Tyler and the narrator weave that the twist still hits you in the face! With the story built-up so well, thanks to the splendid acting, the endless quotes and the cinematography, the climax is simply perfect.

 

Last but not the least, the eight
rules of Fight Club

I have only one rule of Fight Club: if this is the first time you are hearing about the film, you have to see it! Get ready for Mischief. Mayhem. Soap.

My Rating: 4.5/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 79%