I am going to be completely honest here and say I haven’t seen this movie in years but I gave it the score I did based on how I remember it and may now need some additional assistance when it comes to remembering the plot but here goes anyway. Released in 1999 this movie was directed by David Fincher and starred Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. The screenplay was written by Jim Uhls and I mention Jim as this is a well written film and I have to mention the book of the same name written by Chuck Palahniuk. Produced on a budget of $63m it went on recoup $101.2m at the box office. The critics like this movie as well with IMDb giving this a creditable 8.8 from 10, while Rotten Tomatoes gave it lesser score of 79%. I will move onto the plot but it is one of those movie that the plot won’t sell it as much as just watching it does.
The unnamed narrator is a recall specialist who feels underappreciated at his job and suffers from insomnia. He attends support groups to find catharsis and poses as a sufferer of testicular cancer as well as other afflictions to be able to continue. His bliss is disturbed by another imposter called Marla Singer who is attending the same groups. The two meet and agree to split the groups they attend. Flying home from a business trip the narrator meets a salesman called Tyler Durban and his life changes. He come home to find his home destroyed by an explosion. He is disheartened by the loss of material and decides to ask Marla for help. He calls Tyler and they meet at a bar and Tyler says he is beholden to consumerism after sharing a drink Tyler asks Narrator to have a fist fight. The Narrator moves in with Tyler and they have further fights just for fun which attracts a crowd. With that much attendance they decide to set up a fight club, where men turn up to fight each other for recreation. Marla overdoses and calls for help which the Narrator ignores but Tyler goes over to look after her on his return Tyler tells our hero to "never speak to Marla about me". The Narrator then blackmails his boss for the company assets allowing him to quit his job. Fight Clubs start appearing all over the country promoting an anti-materialistic and anti-corporate agenda and Project Mayhem is born and without the Narrators involvement. The group now has elements in all the leading businesses and important agencies throughout the country. This is some serious undercover stuff and what has the Narrator created and now with Tyler making explosives from Soap they stole together how is the Narrator going to cope with the revelation that Tyler was the one that made his Apartment explode.
That and many other questions about this movie will not be answered by me. This is a WTF movie. It is clever and one of the first movies to do so. It is one of those movies that you have to watch twice (at least) to fully appreciate the quality of what you have just watched. It is also the reason why I cannot share too much as this is a spoiler movie that would simply kill the enjoyment for you. So you just have to take my word on it this is a good movie and a good story and a story that turns left when you least expect it. This makes the movie what it is. The fight club cover picture with the two main characters and a bar of soap sums it up. The mantra of the club is the same for the movie that being, the first rule of fight club is you do talk about fight club and the first rule of this movie is you do not talk about this movie to let the new viewers enjoy it in blissful ignorance this way they can enjoy it to the full.
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