Ed Norton plays Jack, the narrator and lead in the film. His life sucks and while he's not really looking for a way to change, one shows up. While on a plane ride, he meets soap salesman Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). Nothing happens immediately, but when Jack arrives home and finds that his apartment has been blown up, he calls Tyler and asks for a place to stay. From that, the movie leads into a world of fighting and violence. The night they meet, Tyler and Jack start fighting each other in a parking lot. More and more people come to watch and soon enough they start Fight Club. It starts off as just a bunch of guys coming in to relieve stress and beat on some other guys, but soon Tyler starts taking it further and further. He opens Fight Clubs in other parts of the country. He starts training soldiers for his Army. He renames Fight Club into Project Mayhem. And then the real games begin.
There is a major twist in this film. Somewhere along the lines of the major twist in The Sixth Sense. One that changes your whole impression of the film. But while the twist in The Sixth Sense made you shout in amazement, the twist in Fight Club made me go, huh? The director (David Fincher) does some flashbacks to try and make the twist make sense, but somehow it doesn't seem to work. My first question was, what was the deal with the car ride? Who was actually driving and what the hell did the people in the back seat think? Without the twist, the movie didn't amount to a whole lot. It starts off as two guys looking to change their life through violence. Soon other people with the same annoying lives want to change as well so they join up. Soon Tyler realizes the power he has, and basically starts a cult. That's all this really was. A lot of people wearing the same clothes, living in the same house, doing whatever one guy told them to do, no matter how dangerous or how illegal. It's a cult. A violent cult, but a cult. Then the plot twist occurs and you realize that not only is it a violent cult, but a cult lead by an insane man.
Visually the movie was impressive. It went along the lines of other Fincher films. Dark and depressing looking sets, very moody. The story was dark and mysterious, as were the characters. The problem was the story wasn't very engaging. I didn't care about anybody and maybe I wasn't supposed to. But while Tyler was the loaded gun, Jack was supposed to be the sympathetic guy we all rooted for. His narration was always in a monotone, and was in the movie way too much. I like the idea that actions speak louder than words and there were too many words and not enough interesting action. I didn't understand Helena Bonham Carter's part at all. Did they just need a woman in the film? I suppose she was there to help Jack realize who he was and make him care about something, but when it all finally came out, it was too late. The movie was also too long. About 20 minutes could have been cut out and still gotten to the same point. Whatever that point was. I did think that Brad Pitt played the role of Tyler Durden the way it was supposed to be played. No remorse, always raging against something. His speeches weren't things that haven't been heard before in films, but his character was the saving grace of the movie.
Overall Fight Club wasn't all that great. Visually it was exciting, and Brad Pitt was good, but the rest of the movie failed me. The plot wasn't special and the twist in the plot served to confuse and annoy me more than excite me. Not one of Fincher's best.
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