Really impressive film...

Rating: 9/10 (11 June 2000)

I feel that this particular movie will become one of the defining moments in early part of the 21st century, once academia really begins to see the problems that have been unleashed by post-modernism and identity politics. Yes, I have heard the film described as fascist, yes I can see some Ayn Randian undertones, but I think most of that really misses the ultimate point that the film is trying to make. America presents a certain image of what it feels a man should be, but sabotages and undermines our ability to achieve that at every step in our socialization process. This film points out possible reasons for this... "we are a generation of men raised by women."
Now this is not a misogynistic comment (as I have seen many attempt to infer), but instead an indictment of the masculine culture in America. Masculine virtue has been undermined consistently by the mercantile nature of the modern state and has not been replaced with anything beyond Gordon Gecko-esque promotion of greed (which is why I find the end of the film to be the most important part, even if it may be a bit simplistic and short-sighted). When the only 'virtue' provided to men is that of acquisitiveness (which was never a virtue before the rise of the modern state in Europe), then we cannot be surprised by the selfishness with which men act in our society. When men abandon their children, or neglect their families, they are acting completely within the modern, capitalist paradigm. This is why we cannot talk about these problems intelligently in a public arena.
I find it humorous that this film (or the Matrix for that matter) will be pointed to the next time some kid blows away his school or kills himself, because Fight Club is one of the only examples of popular media that actually attempts to deal with the real issues behind these problems. America has killed God and morality, we have gone beyond such limiting concepts as good and evil, and now we are paying a price for it. However, too many people profit from this viscious cycle for there to ever be a significant change, therefore the film presents us with an fantastic alternative (watch the movie).
The nuetering of the American male is a process that goes on every day, it is perpetuated in the media and the schools. Masculine virtue may be dead, and perhaps that is ultimately what Fight Club was trying to tell us. Or perhaps there are still ways to reconnect with something more primal in our gender, perhaps there are ways for us to look deeper into what it means to be a man. This film was one of them, I hope that it is a sign of a shift in the media toward intelligent films about the idea of the masculine rather than simple action/morality plays.
Fight Club is a complex film that has managed to capture and illuminate a moment in time in America. I hope that it is something that men can see and reflect on. I hope that this film inspires men to think about what it means to be a man and why being a man is not something to be ashamed of.