A Work of Entertaining Satire....

Rating: Null/10 (15 October 2002)

I remember when I first watched the film, my brother recommended it. As I watched it, my mom caught glimpses of it and thought it was trash. She saw the execessive violence as a turn off and assumed it was a perverse and blood ridden film. Then she actually watched the last third of the film, and at the end, I saw the look of disbelief in her face. She is a Medical Doctor and she understood at once one of the central themes in the movie. She, just like I and my brother, place this film as one of the top five films I have ever watched. The main theme she enjoyed in the movie was how the whole movie was an excercise in self therapy. However the theme I enjoy is hwo the commercialism of America was portrayed and how he battled this facet of society in America. His self indulgence of "the perfect living room", how he got funding for the club, and how he was able to defeat the "towers" of capitalistic society in America where truly great moments of satire in the film. There where only two flaws in the movie I saw. One was that there wasn't very good flow and cohesion in terms of the script and how it blended with the different themes. The second was the theme of rebellion and how violence in the film portrayed this theme. I am convinced that the director added it in for shock value, as it's theme is not fully explored and was too excessive in demonstrating the rage that that Generation possesed. The only relevant violent scenes where the two times he inflicted self damage on himself, once as Tyler, and once as himself. Both where an attempt to exploit the Capitalism to forward his own motives, and both scenes where excellent executions of satire.
In essence, this movie would have been just as effective without the unneccessary violence, though it is still powerful and relevant in demonstrating it's central themes.