When Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) screams the first and second rule of Fight Club -- "You do not talk about Fight Club" -- Tyler makes a statement more ironic than he could possibly know. The fact that "Fight Club" can brag about its status as the most talked about movie of the fall is only a side-note. Fincher's adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's book by the same name is so thought-provoking, frightening and confrontational that it is difficult to avoid discussing at length.
It isn't that Tyler is unaware. In fact, both Tyler and Jack (Edward Norton) make it obvious they know they are in a movie. At times, they talk directly to the audience, rewind the story, and at one moment, point out imperfections in the film's own celluloid.
This eerie omniconsciousness is just one of the many things that makes this movie so interesting.
"Fight Club" starts with our getting to know Jack, a Generation X puppet whose boss hands him reports and uses rhetoric like, "Make these your primary action items." Jack spends time at home wondering, "What kind of dining set defines me, as a person?" He even attends the support groups for people whose problems he does not share, including Alcoholics Anonymous and one for testicular cancer survivors, in a twisted attempt to give his life meaning. He is lost in a world devoid of spiritual satisfaction, where people's mid-life crises happen in their 20s and late night infomercials are a primary source of excitement.
Standard Gen-X stuff so far, right? Well, everything changes when Jack meets Tyler on a "single-serving" business trip (Jack says that so many things in the world, from the salt to the person sitting next to you on an airplane, is given in a single-serving).
Something about Tyler's macho manners and smooth demeanor intrigues Jack, and when he discovers upon returning home that his apartment, along with its colorful catalogs, posh dining set and trendy furniture has mysteriously exploded in an obvious anti-commercialism message, he gives Tyler a call.
After a few beers, Tyler convinces Jack to punch him ("How much can you know about yourself if you've never been in a fight?") and after Jack does so ("in the ear!") and receives a brutal stomach punch in return, Jack cannot turn back.
For possibly the first time, Jack feels something real, something that is not manufactured by marketing gurus or new age support groups. Soon enough, Tyler and Jack have start Fight Club, where men beat each other up for no other reason than to feel pain. And that is just the film's beginning.
From there, the film spirals into so many different directions that the question of what the film is about becomes silly. Despite what some critics have said, "Fight Club" is not just about sexual desire or macho violence.
The film may be about these things but it is also about much more; Tyler's violent and bloody Fight Club only serves as a vehicle to transfer all of the film's messages to the audience.
Through dark and gritty images, Fincher explores the dangers of fascism, the evils of corporate America and the lack of intimacy between men and women. Watching Tyler effortlessly recruit Fight Club members and convince them to shed their individuality reminds audiences of the dangers of powerful leaders like Hitler and their misinterpretation of Nietzsche.
Seeing Jack slowly lose control in his corporate job gives viewers a strong message about capitalism and life's meaning. Even Tyler's and Jack's relationship with the sexy but scary Marla (played by Helena Bonham Carter) brings questions about modern sexual relationships to light.
Fincher, who directed the inventive 1997 Michael Douglas flick "The Game," definitely has a lot to do with the success of this book adaptation. Edward Norton's contribution, however, cannot be overlooked.
In almost every movie Norton has appeared in he takes control of the entire film. The strength and quality of "Primal Fear" and "American History X" rested entirely on Norton's shoulders. In all of his performances, he is dynamic, intense and entirely convincing.
In "Fight Club" though, instead of carrying the entire movie, Norton manages to share the fame with Pitt, who turns in his best performance since "Twelve Monkeys." Pitt proves, once again, that he is not just a pretty face.
In his recent interview with the Yale Film Society, Norton compared "Fight Club" to "Taxi Driver" and "The Graduate." Like "The Graduate," "Fight Club" speaks to a generation through its subversiveness. Like "Taxi Driver," the film shows how easily society can make seemingly normal people go completely insane.
Parallels also exist between "Fight Club" and the meaningless violence in Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange." Even Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" has ties to Fincher's film, considering young Biff's Generation X stereotypical tendencies and Willy's gradual trip toward insanity. The fact that "Fight Club" can be compared to so many other films and references so many cultural icons speaks to its universality.
The film definitely speaks to Generation X and tries to help twentysomethings find their way. In the movie, Tyler angrily states that "we've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'll be millionaires and movie-gods and rock stars, but we won't."
Of course, this film will mean different things to different people. It's true that we may not all end up as rock stars, but the movie reminds us that it is possible find our way in life. Hopefully, unlike Jack, we can do so without losing our minds.
