LOVE this movie...and have a new take on it

Rating: Null/10 (8 April 2002)

Whoever posted the comment that said that this movie is so good because it has so many interpretations is right on, and for the record, I think that anyone who doesn't like it should try seeing it again...it really does get better every time, and you are probably not looking past the surface. With that in mind, I'd like to offer a slightly different take than I've ever heard on it. While learning about religions of Asia, I saw a movie on Rinzai Zen Buddhism, and it was almost exactly like Fight Club! The young monk trying to enter the Zen temple was first told he could not enter, and to leave, and only by showing his persistence and waiting outside for days was he allowed to join the group (exactly like the movie). Once inside, he joins a group of others who have no separate identities, but work together towards enlightenment under a ruler who beats them often to help them "see the light." So in this theory, Fight Club (actually, Project Mayhem by this time) = the temple; Tyler = the Zen master (note actual quote from the movie--"I am the Zen master"); enlightenment = the realization Tyler wants them all to come to (consumerism, etc etc, again note quote--"I am enlightened")...I think it's striking. Off the wall, I know, but if you watch the movie after learning a little about Rinzai Zen you will see it, I promise! So here's a new one for you: now the movie is about consumer culture, midlife crises, closet homosexuality...AND Rinzai Zen.
SEE IT!!!! It is at least a 10/10.