A fine, and often misunderstood film

Rating: 9/10 (24 January 2006)

If you haven't seen it, and don't know others who have seen it, you probably think this is a movie that glorifies violence. And you'd be wrong. The movie is certainly charged with testosterone, but it is actually a deep, thought provoking movie examining the rampant consumerism of society versus ideas of nihilism and primitivism.
The central figure to all the philosophizing is Tyler Durden, played to perfection by Brad Pitt. Durden is perhaps one of the most charismatic villains since Richard III, with eminently quotable sound bites that speak to the disillusionment in all of us. Pair that off with Ed Norton as a sardonic narrator, at first a wreck lost to the 'IKEA nesting instinct' and rendered cynical by the amorality of his job, and we have a scathing indictment of the consumerism smothering society.
The bloody underground boxing of the Fight Club is a way the characters can gain control of their life, break free of the bonds society shackles them with. This in turn becomes Project Mayhem a terrorist organization aiming to send society 'back to zero.' In one chilling scene, Tyler evokes his dream world from the shadows: a world of post-apocalyptic proportions where people worry about things that matter--i.e. survival. Clearly, the violence has escalated beyond the point where it makes sense, but at the same time we can't shake the truth beyond Tyler's words, the desire to live one's own life.
The film doesn't tell you 'do this' or 'do that.' It just asks you to think.
(Some may be put off by a few plot holes the twist creates. These are actually fewer than they first appear, and further, the film is not the poster child for realism. Just ride with it.)