A High Schooler's Dream

Rating: 10/10 (13 April 2006)

I saw this movie late one night on HBO my junior year in high school. I bought it the next day and probably saw it 25 times that week. This was the first movie I ever saw that gave me reason to believe movies could be more than entertaining or heart warming. Movies could say something intelligent. Of course, the fact that this is one of the most entertaining movie's EVER only makes the watcher want to listen to what it says all that much more. And despite it's presentation and even content, it does say good things.
I won't talk, at least that much, about how amazing Pitt, Norton, and Carter are. I won't focus on the twist that no one ever sees coming and yet makes so much sense. Even without the twist, the movie would have become a classic. I won't talk about the interesting homoerotic themes, and I won't go on about how this is the modern western. Let's talk about the book instead.
I'll say it. The movie is better. While the book obviously made the movie possible, the movie is an improvement, a realization. Even Palahniuk says so concerning the end. A difficult story to put on film, but the effort was not in vain. Just as harsh, just as (and I hate this word) unflinching, the book may actually be a bit clumsy, things about beaches and Marla's mother really aren't necessary or even interesting. The grittiness of the movie is superior to anything I could have imagined, and I have an okay imagination.
I mean it, that this is a high schooler's dream. Having never even imagined things like Nihilism or self sustained living or even the virtue of pain, this film was eye opening. This movie hits like a brick, and you want it to keep hitting. Oh, and it's super quotable.
It's embarrassing to say, but this movie shaped me to some extent. I saw it at an age where I could have easily grown into conformity, or I could have begun to question and challenge everything. Fight Club instills a sense of responsibility and urgency in it's audience. It's my very favorite movie.