Bold movie-making

Rating: Null/10 (27 August 2004)

People have looked at this film as excessively violent, controversy-baiting, and nihilistic in its ideals. It can be any of these things to you depending on how you look at films. For most of us, though, Fight Club will be one of the boldest, most convincing movies we will ever experience.
Fight Club centers around a guy whose name we don't find out (though he is referred to in the script as Jack, so we'll call him that). His life is slowly being drained of colour, so he fills it with products - furniture, electronics, exercise equipment, etc. His life takes a turn for the better (and for the worse) when he meets a mysterious man named Tyler Durden. Tyler awakens him to the fact that his life is empty and that his reliance on products has reduced his life to an empty shell. The two of them start their own 'Fight Clubs', where men can come and awaken themselves to their primal instincts. Jack is finally happy, but Tyler has an even more ambitious goal...
(Spoilers)
This movie uses subtle and not-so-subtle messages to get its point across, the point being that products, labels and companies have reduced us as humans to empty drones, passing through life unaware of our own incompetence. Jack could be any one of us. When he dies, what difference has he made? He should spend more time liberating himself rather than dragging himself further down, right?
OR IS THIS THE POINT?
Throughout the second half of the movie, Tyler changes what we have thought about his philosophy. The army of 'Space Monkeys' demonstrates his REAL point: one person does not matter. The army is built up constantly being reminded that "You are not special. You are not a beautiful unique snowflake. You are from the same compost heap as the rest of us." The army is slowly molded into Tyler's personal "robots", to use as he sees fit. Humans can only make a difference when binded together to utilise their existence to aid others. This is demonstrated by Tyler's "Project Mayhem" plan (destroying the credit card buildings). This will lead to the 'liberation' of humankind - without credit, many people have nothing. Entire companies have their fortunes in stocks and shares.
The lesson? Stop relying on credit as a way of life. Get back to the basics of humankind. Stop working on personal grooming and try your hand at liberating humans as a species.
Of course I don't agree very much with any of this. But this is the point: this is the filmmakers/writers getting their point across without condensation or pansy-ass editing to make their message more "tame". This is film-making without anyone caring who gets offended along the way. Bold, provocative movie-making. A must-see.