Fight Club

Plot synopsis:
We back out of the webbing of neurons and brain cells as the title credits appear, finding ourselves emerging from the sweat-glistened skin of the protagonist: our narrator (Edward Norton), as he looks down the barrel of a gun that's been stuck in his mouth. The gun is held by a man named Tyler (Brad Pitt) who checks his watch, counting down to 'ground zero' before he asks if the narrator has anything to say. The narrator mumbles through the gun before it's removed and reiterates that he can't think of anything. As Tyler looks out of the high rise window to the dark city below them, the narrator recalls just how he met Tyler before stopping himself and bringing us to the very beginning.In six months, the narrator hasn't slept. His job as a traveling product recall specialist for a car company doesn't help his insomnia since he must travel often, experiencing bouts of jet lag in addition to the everyday stress of his position, admiring the 'tiny life' of single-serving soap and shampoo at every location. If he can't sleep, he surfs the channels or browses through Ikea catalogs purchasing the next piece of decor to add to his apartment; he's a self-proclaimed slave of consumerism. He goes to his doctor seeking help, but all the doctor can do is suggest that he visit a support group for testicular cancer to see real pain. There, the narrator meets Robert 'Bob' Paulson (Meat Loaf), the 'big moosie' and an ex-bodybuilder and steroid user who suffers from an extreme case of gynecomastia due to hormone treatment after his testicles were removed. Stuck between Bob's enormous breasts, the narrator finally finds peace and bursts into tears. The emotional release allows him to sleep and he subsequently becomes addicted to support groups, mapping out his week attending different meetings and feigning illness. However, the appearance of a woman named Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter) throws the narrator's 'system' out of whack. He recognizes her as a 'tourist', having seen her at multiple meetings, and he is disturbed by her lies to the point where he can't sleep anymore.After one meeting, he confronts her. She argues that she's doing exactly what he does and quips that the groups are 'cheaper than a movie and there's free coffee'. Instead of ratting each other out, they agree to split up the week and exchange numbers. Despite his efforts, the narrator's insomnia continues. On a flight back from one of his business trips, the narrator meets Tyler Durden. Tyler offers a unique perspective on emergency procedure manuals in the plane and they strike up a casual conversation. Tyler is a soap salesman, if he's not working nights as a projectionist and slipping bits of porn between reels. The narrator arrives at the baggage claim to discover that his suitcase has been confiscated, most likely due to a mysterious vibration, before he taxis home. However, home, a fifteenth story condominium, has been blasted into the night by what was theorized to be a faulty gas line ignited by a spark on the refrigerator. Having nowhere to go, the narrator finds a business card for Tyler and calls him up. They meet in a parking lot behind a bar where Tyler invites the narrator to ask to come live with him...on one condition: that the narrator hit Tyler as hard as he can. The narrator, though puzzled, complies and they engage in a fist fight before sharing a couple of drinks. The experience is surprisingly euphoric.Tyler and the narrator engage in more fights over the coming days and they soon attract the attention of other 'tough guys'. Finding their little fighting group growing, Tyler establishes a formal 'fight club' in the basement of the bar where they had their first fight. Membership quickly increases and Tyler and the narrator fashion a series of rules, the first two being 'you do not talk about fight club.' The rules are consistently broken. Time and again, Tyler proves his insightful, if unorthodox and immoral, views on life.The narrator meets up with Marla by chance, telling her that he hasn't attended any other meetings because he's joined a new support group for men only.While he still treats her with mild contempt, it's clear that he considers her with interest. When she overdoses on Xanax, she calls the narrator who, tired of her rambling, sets the phone down. He discovers later that Tyler picked up the phone, followed the call to Marla's home, and brought her back to the house where they engaged in vigorous sex, much to the narrator's disgust. The next morning in the kitchen, Marla finds the narrator, who is astonished to see her in his house. After she leaves, Tyler enters the kitchen and reveals that he and Marla had sex the night before. He also gravely makes the narrator promise that he'll never mention Tyler to Marla.That night the narrator joins Tyler while he steals human fat out of the dumpster of a liposuction clinic. Tyler says that the best fat for making the soap he sells comes from human beings. Back in their kitchen, Tyler shows the narrator how to render tallow from the fat. After explaining a bit about the history of soapmaking, Tyler plants a wet kiss on the back of the narrator's hand and dumps pure lye on the spot, causing a horrific chemical burn. Tyler refuses to let the narrator wash the lye off his hand, saying that water will worsen the burn, and tells the narrator that the burn is a rite of passage -- Tyler has burned his own hand in an identical way. Tyler also forces the narrator to accept allegiance to him and then neutralizes the burn with vinegar. Later, when they meet with a cosmetics salesperson at a department store, the narrator remarks that Tyler's soap sells for a very high price.With the narrator, he holds a college dropout (Joon Kim) at gunpoint and threatens to kill him if he doesn't pursue his dream of becoming a veterinarian. He allows Lou (Peter Iacangelo), the owner of the bar where their fight club is held, to beat him up before coughing blood all over him and demanding to stay in the basement. Horrified, Lou agrees.After a period of days, Marla leaves and Tyler introduces the narrator to his newest hobby. Using his proficient skills in soap-making, Tyler has turned the basement of the house into a laboratory where he uses soap and other ingredients to make explosives. Tyler and the narrator continue managing fight club, but this time, at a much different frequency. Receiving flack at work, the narrator finally confronts his boss (Zach Grenier) with knowledge about substandard practice and negotiates to work from home with increased pay to keep his mouth shut. When his boss objects and calls security, the narrator begins to beat himself up severely so that, by the time security arrives, they are led to believe that the narrator's boss did that to him.Tyler eventually assigns homework to his recruits and preaches to them about the detriments of consumerism and relying on society and authority figures. He proposes to revert back to the time where a man's worth depended on the sweat on his back and where he only used what he needed. This philosophy evolves into what Tyler calls 'Project Mayhem,' and the fighting in basements turns into mischievous acts of vandalism and destruction. Their actions do not go unnoticed, but Tyler manages to show the lead investigator that the very people he's hunting are those that they depend on; waiters, bus drivers, sewer engineers, and more. The dilapidated house where Tyler and the narrator live turns into Mayhem central, where each new recruit is put through a rigorous period of initiation and training and where the latest plans are hatched. While Project Mayhem grows, the narrator begins to feel more and more distant from Tyler and jealousy sets in, making him go so far as to beat up and disfigure one recruit (Jared Leto) because he 'wanted to destroy something beautiful'. When Tyler disappears for a while, the narrator is left at home with an ever increasing band of Mayhem members who watch television and laugh at their publicized acts of vandalism. When Bob, a member after being introduced to Fight Club, is killed during a botched sabotage operation, the narrator seeks to disband the group before things get out of control. He tries to find Tyler and discovers a list of phone numbers he recently used. The narrator trails the list all over the country, discovering that fight clubs have sprouted everywhere.At one particular bar, the bartender addresses the narrator as 'sir' which prompts the narrator to ask if he knows him. The bartender, after being assured that he's not being put through a test, tells the narrator that he is Tyler Durden. In shock, the narrator returns to his hotel room and calls up Marla, asking if they've ever had sex. Though irritated, Marla confirms their relationship and states that she knows his name as Tyler Durden. Marla hangs up and Tyler suddenly appears in the room and confronts the narrator, confirming that they are, indeed, one person. The narrator has insomnia; he can't sleep so, whenever he thinks he is (or at random parts of a day), Tyler's persona takes over. The epiphany causes the narrator to faint. When he wakes up, he finds another phone list beside him with calls from all over the country.He returns to his home to find it completely empty but one billboard yields a display of folders detailing certain buildings within the financial district. He finds that each one has been infiltrated by members of Project Mayhem and that Tyler is planning on destroying them, thereby erasing credit card company records and 'wiping the slate clean'. In a panic, the narrator grabs all the information and reports himself to the local police. However, after telling the inspector everything he knows and being left with two officers, the narrator discovers that the officers are Mayhem members and they tell him that they were instructed by him to 'take the balls' of anyone who interfered with Project Mayhem...even him. The narrator manages to escape and runs to one of the buildings set for demolition. He finds an unmarked van in the parking garage filled with nitroglycerin and attempts to disarm the bomb. Tyler appears and goads him but the narrator successfully disarms the bomb. He and Tyler engage in a fierce fight which appears oddly on the surveillance cameras since the narrator is only fighting himself. The Tyler personality wins and the narrator 'brings himself' to another building where they can safely watch the destruction.This brings us back to where we started. The narrator, with the gun in his mouth, mumbles again and tells Tyler, "I still can't think of anything". Tyler smiles and says, "Ah, flashback humor". The narrator begs that Tyler abandon the project but Tyler is adamant. He professes that what he's doing is saving mankind from the oppression of consumerism and unnecessary luxuries and that there won't even have to be any casualties; the people who work in the buildings are all Mayhem members, completely aware of the plan. Near breaking point, the narrator comes to realize that whatever Tyler does, he can do. He sees Tyler with the gun in his hand and realizes that it's actually in his hand. He puts it up to his own chin and tells Tyler to listen to him. He says that his eyes are open and then puts the gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger. The bullet shoots out of the side of his jaw and Tyler is 'killed' with a gaping wound to the back of his head. As the narrator recovers, members of Project Mayhem arrive with snacks and Marla in tow (Tyler had previously instructed her to be brought to them).Seeing 'Tyler's' wounds, the Mayhem members leave Marla alone with him to fetch some medical supplies. 'Tyler' stands with Marla and tells her that everything's going to be fine as the first detonation ignites the building in front of them. The others on the block soon follow suit and 'Tyler' takes Marla's hand in his as the buildings collapse and the film reel ends.

Tags: dark, comedy, cruelty, neo noir, mystery, psychological, thought-provoking, cult, violence, storytelling, atmospheric, flashback, clever, insanity, psychedelic, action, satire, philosophical, plot twist, entertaining, sadist

Review:
I will say that I cannot recall *ever* having been "asked" by a film to both suspend my disbelief the way this film asks in its third act AND at the same time come to terms with an understanding that there is no room--or need--for disbelief.Perhaps these comments will not make sense to the average movie goer who will dismiss this film--and, unfortunately, its premise--as another hollywood flick filled with gratuitous violence.
Fight Club makes many bold statements against the modern consumer-driven society, and produces Norton's best performance and Pitt's second best (12 Monkeys).Norton plays an average-Joe who is living a dead-end life.
The plot lured you in before turning you upside down, the acting was nothing short of perfect (has there ever been a more memorable character than Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden?), the music, the screenplay (based on what is now my all-time favorite book), the lighting, the pacing, the everything!
Despite the risky 'cutting edge' nature of the film, Fincher got a huge budget for this and it shows: the camera effects and the whole production design are amazing.This movie has a raw energy that grips me every time I watch it.
"Fight Club" is a $50+ million studio film that remains true to its anti-consumer, anti-society, anti-everything message -- right up to the last, sneaky subliminal frame.
"Fight Club" openly rejects this tired, clearly outdated structure in favour of a stylized frenzy of jump cuts, freeze frames, slow motion and every other film technique in the book that only reinforces its anarchistic message.
The film is a cinematic punch to the head as it challenges the status quo and offers a wakeup call to people immersed in a materialistic world where those who have the most stuff, "win." I think that Fincher's film wants us to tear all that down, reject corporate monsters like Starbucks and Blockbuster, and try to figure out what we really want out of life.
And it is these thought-provoking ideas that makes "Fight Club" a dangerously brilliant film that entertains as well as enlightens..
I was seriously hoping the movie would receive Oscar nominations for Best Actor (Norton), Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Picture.So, how is it that the film received no nominations?
This is the point around which the whole film revolves with Norton and Pitt forming an underground club which draws more and more disillusioned young men to join it.
Faithfully following Chuck Palahniuk's acerbic satire, Fight Club presents the vast emptiness of modern existence- ridden as it is with shallow values, rampant consumerism, empty of meaning, feeling and life itself- in a slick and ironically consumer oriented fashion.
Fight Club is definitly Fincher's best movie even better than se7en.
When I had seen it for the second time I could see this movie with the knowledge of the conclusion which is really fascinating as you'll see Fight Club in a totally different perspective.
Also great about Fight Club is its soundtrack performed by the Dust Brothers and especially the song 'Where is my mind' by the Pixies which really fit to the end of the movie.
Unfortunately Fight Club didn't have much success in Germany but anyway the movie got best reviews of the German press.
Bradd Pitt gives his best performance to date, he is definitely an excellent coworker with David Fincher, they seem to share a common thread when it comes to film making I suppose.
It is rather one of the most thought provoking movies I have ever seen.I unleashed my own Tyler Durden 10 years ago, not violently or illegally, but I did turn my back on my serf-like existence as a well- paid corporate slave.
The leading actors of this movie are chosen very carefully and I guess this is Edward Norton's best actor performance.You can watch "Fight Club" more than once and you would never get bored of it..
I look at the Fincher's movies like a film school .
Brad Pitt and Edward Norton were the perfect choice to lead this movie.
This movie's charades of insurrection are exhilarating to the clinically demented (Otherwise known as the fight club) The less I know, the better off I will be I think!!
In short, Fight Club is a movie that attempts to give a distorted portrait of society as an evil in order to facilitate showing violence and yet more violence.
We have no Great War. No Great Depression." is both romanticizing over events in Western history, that made absolutely no sense to the people living it, and at the same time mocking our grandparents and the life and society they fought for, ours.The main character continues: "We were raised on television to believe that we'd all be millionaires, movie gods, rock stars, but we won't".Well, learning to differentiate between yourself and "movie gods [and] rock stars" and learning that life is not all beer and skittles is what growing up is about today.So, Brad Pitt et al., grow up.
And go read a book or something.The rubbish quote sums it up pretty good: "I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men that have ever lived.
The film follows the book through most of its plot, incorporating much of Palahniuk's clever and bitter commentary on our material society into Edward Norton's jaded voice-over narration, which is unnerving for the five seconds it takes to get into the rhythm of the story.
That's how good this plot is adapted- we can settle right into a rhythm and a dark tone that match those of the book perfectly.Edward Norton is the perfect choice for Fight Club's bored protagonist, as is Brad Pitt as Tyler, the enigmatic man that encourages Norton's character to join him in starting a fight club.
Tyler has a plan to change the very fabric of their society and in the process changes the very fabric of Norton's character's life- more than he realizes at first.For the entire movie, Fight Club is about man's slavery to society and his escape from it.
From the moment the credits were on screen I instantly fell in love with it.Fight Club has changed our lives and the way we look at it.
Making both perfect.The film has 3 parts to it, studying the character in which called the Narrator played by Edward Norton.
Seeing  Fight  Club , I  realized  you  can  have  great  ideas  for  films , but  unless  you use  them  well , and  find  just  the  right  note , great  ideas  do not necessarily  make  great  movies ..
Also, for a movie that was so preachy about consumerism ("You are not your car, your khakis," all that hackneyed nonsense), did anyone else notice that all the tired young execs at Fight Club proper seemed to spend alot of time at the gym?
All in all, Fight Club is not a bad movie, but I really wished it had ended as good as it started....
The problem here isn't acting- he is still good in a demanding role that merited top billing(rather than being put under Pitt), and the rest of the cast does admirably as well, although Brad Pitt has played a role much like this before(see 12 Monkeys) and Helena Bonham Carter's role is pretty much as demeaning to women as it gets.
Answering questions, Edward Norton joked about how working with Brad Pitt was easier for him because he could always rag on him about Pitt's bad movies- "Whenever he'd get on me, I'd just have to say 'Cool World'"- and also said he thought he had yet to be part of a "stinker".
Brad Pitt, the star of the movie, played his character (Tyler Durden) flawlessly.
Throughout the movie, Ed Norton's character (the narrator) was trying to fight his inner demons which were preventing him from getting any sleep.
I feel I would have enjoyed the movie much more had not my brother spoiled the damn ending before I watched it, but even without the surprise ending, Fight Club still makes my top 10..
This movie wasn't building any character or atmosphere but what it was building is total BOREDOM.I didn't want to watch this movie till the end but then I thought about the high points that people have given it and some of the reviewers were talking about its great twist ending.
I saw this film at a free preview about a week before it was released and two years later I can still remember how angry I was wasting an evening on this drivel.The whole premise that these guys can't feel any emotion unless they're beating the hell out of each other is ridiculous and boring.I can't remember one thing I liked about this movie.Not the script,none of the performances,the editing or cinematography,nothing.Maybe this film taps into the current anarchist views and aspirations  of whatever generation we're up to,but who cares?If there was a  score lower than one,I wouldn't hesitate to mark it on my ballot..
Ed norton and Brad pitt were outstanding, all time great must see movie..
I decided to watch some of the films on that list and I wanted to watch Fight Club first because it just attracted me in ways I can't explain.
Edward Norton and Brad Pitt have oscar worthy performances in this film, and they are very different and unique characters.
Helena Bonham Carter has very good acting in this film as well, and her and Brad Pitt are the funniest things in this movie.
Fight Club is one of David Fincher's best films, and it is probably one of my top 5 favorite films of all time..
If you don't know what that means, it's just a small taste of how sardonic this whole film is.At first, I assumed Fight Club was just a movie about a bunch of guys beating each other up.
Acting is great; Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helena Bonham Carter are effectively perfect in their roles.
I've spent significant time in the USA and never saw one fight.It was a dull and boring movie, and I suggest Eddie Norton takes a good hard look at himself before being involved with a script like that again.
Fight Club is directed by David Fincher and stars Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter, Meat Loaf, and Jared Leto.
However, once he meets cool guy Tyler Durden (Pitt), he, along with Tyler, start a "fight club," a place in which men who seek fulfillment may find it through beating each other up.
In my humble opinion, however, Fight Club is easily one of the best films ever made.
The flawless script contributes to my liking of this movie, due to amazing dialogue and great detail upon the current setting.If anyone has ever read the script for Fight Club, it's just shy of 200 pages, and that is magnificently impressive.
Without spoiling anything, Fight Club has one of, if not the, best plot twists in film history.
Fight Club is a rare type of film in which contains a better experience watching it for the second time than watching it for the first.
The twist is perfectly built up to, and flawlessly executed in every way.Overall, Fight Club is one of my favorite films of all time, and I like to say that it's one of the best movies ever made.
Fight Club is an extremely violent film, but I don't think it's gratuitous because the movie really works as a satire and raises several philosophical questions about how enslaved we've become under the capitalist and advertising system, but it also points out the danger of anarchy as well.
Based on Chuck Palahniuk's novel of the same name, and adapted for the screen by Jim Uhls, Fight Club is a masterpiece thanks to Fincher's direction and the performance from the excellent cast which includes Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helen Bonham Carter.
Fight Club is a must see film for all.The movie begins with a scene where the narrator (Edward Norton) has a gun forced down his throat by Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), to which the narrator begins to tell the viewer what has led him to this point through voice over narration, and so the film is told in flashback.
Edward Norton appeared in the big movie screen during the 90's and this was when he made his best films (American History X, Primal Fear, The People vs.
The performance from the cast is one of the best things about Fight Club which works in every level.
I have also read Fight Club book and honestly and liked the movie better - this doesn't happen often - David Fincher did excellent job - the film has very unique and accordant style without exaggerations and the crew was very successfully build, actor play is faultless, there is nothing you would want to change..
When you finish watching Fight Club, what do you remember most about the film?
However, Fight Club goes a step beyond and then some, taking a look at how this lifestyle obsession invades every aspect of life, sinking into our personal lives, making it impossible to find a woman who doesn't despise your guts outside of the physical side of your relationship, where being clever and funny are the only things you have to keep yourself sane, and where a generation of MTV-raised, Saturday morning cartoons, post-Reagan politics, Hollywood-worshiping, McDonalds and 7-11 Slushees men are being turned into demasculated raving psychotics trying to find any escape from their misery.Fight Club comes along at a time in history where it's perfect.
A film that speaks for an entire generation of men and the future of our lifestyle obsessed society, Fight Club is an all-time favorite for me and I would recommend it to absolutely anyone.
It is a very clever story and it only dipped in quality at one point for me  where the clubs first begin to become something more sinister (more!) and move into terrorism.Part of the reason it was so well watched is the stars but also the very cool direction that made it stand out to the student generation as something deep (even if they didn't get the film).
The film is preaching to us about this (and the other) extreme  but most people watching and making it will be living that exact life!
I was not going to watch this movie because the pre-views did not appeal to me and I am probably the only woman living who does NOT think that Brad Pitt is sexy.
I also understand the concept of Ed Norton's character having everything but feeling so lonely and depressed that he starts fight club with Brad Pitt in order to get attention and feel wanted.
Many of the others commented (and other people who've seen this movie) think that Tyler Durden is somehow the voice of good, a positive role model, if you will.
Many of the others commented (and other people who've seen this movie) think that Tyler Durden is somehow the voice of good, a positive role model, if you will.
As such, it presents the conflict between two characters Tyler Durden played by Brad Pitt and someone who is called Jack, Rupert or Cornelius and who is played by Edward Norton.Jack is quite a consumer, or at least at the start of the movie he is.
For me this is just worth a one time watch and is a decent 7/10 movie at best.I thought this was supposed to be FIGHT Club, well there was very little fighting or action.
It also has themes of violence but at the same time has elements of black comedy.The acting throughout is superb - great performances from the 3 main character played by Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter.***Spoilers*** You may have to watch this movie several times before you fully understand it and pick up on all the nuances but I outline some below.When I first saw this I thought there was something wrong with the DVD because at a few points is seems to flicker (and does) not until I put it on super-slow motion did I realise it was intended.
There's no doubt that Fight Club is one of my favorite movies.
Fight Club is without a doubt in my top 5 movies of all time.
Thethemes and events in the film are indescribable.Also, this is one of the few films that has PERFECT actors for its characters.Edward Norton is frighteningly convincing as the narrator, and Brad Pitt plays the incredibly strange character of Tyler Durden absolutely flawlessly.If you haven't already seen this movie, I would strongly recommend it.
This is a good example of what happens when people who've been reading comic books and watched better movies all their lives get to make their own.
I'd rather see that movie twenty more times rather than see 5 minutes from Fight Club.
I saw it again on television a few years later and thought it was a bit better and not quite as horrible, but still didn't enjoy it much.However I was convinced into buying the DVD and seeing it again just because it had been rated the 37th best film of all time on IMDb (it's now #41).Well I'm happy to report that I found "Fight Club" utterly brilliant on third viewing.
In a year of some really good movies "Fight Club" was probably the best and is one of my all-time favorite films.It's easy to see how this might be considered the next "Taxi Driver" thirty years from now..
Luckily, like The Fly, both movies were incredible, and Fight Club was definitely the better of the two.
He gets that chance when he meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt in one of his best roles), an increasingly insane soap maker who creates the fight club of the title.
Fight Club is the most over-rated movie I have ever seen (barely beating out Gladiator).