90's Throwback Month - Fight Club (1999)
Hey guys, Chuck here. Okay, I know I'm about to break the first two rules, but you know what? This movie is pretty much one of the most celebrated 90's movies. So, throwing the first two rules aside, for 90's Throwback Month, let's talk about Fight Club.
The movie focuses on an unnamed narrator, who we'll call Jack for simplicity's sake. Jack works as a recall coordinator for a major car company. He also suffers from insomnia, and hasn't slept in weeks. After attending a life support meeting, befriending Bob Paulson, and letting himself cry, Jack finally gets some sleep. Continuing to attend various life support meetings, everything seems to be going well, until a woman who is also just attending the meetings for no reason at all arrives. This would be Marla Singer, an impoverished woman who might just be slightly insane. Jack finds himself unable to sleep once again as another faker, Marla, is at the meetings he attends. Jack and Marla, after a chat one evening, decide to split the week up so that they don't have to see each other. During a routine work related set of flights, Jack meets the enigmatic soap maker Tyler Durden, and the two quickly become friends. Upon landing and returning home, Jack finds his condo completely destroyed. Jack then reaches out to Tyler, and they meet for a drink, upon which Tyler agrees to let Jack stay at his place, and the two have a brief fistfight in the parking lot. We also learn that Tyler, who's a bit on an anarchist, works as a projectionist at a movie theater, as well as working as a hotel restaurant waiter.
As weeks roll on, Tyler and Jack live in their dilapidated house, fight in the parking lot of the bar they frequent, fighting with other patrons who are interested in joining them, etc. Tyler and Jack, with help from bartender Irving, set up shop in the bar's basement, forming Fight Club. As weeks turn into months, more people show up for Fight Club, including Bob, Ricky (Jack's co-worker), and a blonde pretty boy (played by Jared Leto). After a confrontation with Lou, the bar's owner, they are allowed to continue using the basement. Tyler comes up with various homework assignments, most of them acts of anarchy and vandalism, for the members of Fight Club to carry out. Meanwhile, Tyler has been sleeping with Marla, who called Jack for some odd reason, and now is stopping by regularly. Tyler also starts building bunk beds in the basement of the house, with members of Fight Club showing up, eventually cleaning up the house and continuing Fight Club, as well as their anarchistic acts. This ultimately leads to the revelation of their group being called Project Mayhem, who carry out acts of anti-corporate vandalism. After a Fight Club where Jack smashes the face of blondie (yeah, I mean Jared Leto's character), Tyler and Jack, along with Ricky and another member, drive in a limo, running through traffic, and driving off of the hill, crashing the limo. By the next morning, Tyler is gone.
Jack walks around the house, and Project Mayhem is fully self-sufficient. A botched job, which results in Bob being killed by police, leads Jack to leave, following in Tyler's footsteps. Upon a number of individuals referring to him as such, including Marla, Jack realizes that he and Tyler are one and the same. Tyler reveals that Jack created him as an escape for his inhibitions, but still sees himself alongside Tyler due to being unable to fully embrace being like Tyler. So everything that Tyler did throughout the movie (forming Fight Club/Project Mayhem, the two night jobs, and sleeping around with Marla) were Jack's doing all along. Jack then returns to the house, now empty of people, but not evidence of making tons of explosives, planning to destroy various buildings that are offices of credit card companies, thus erasing all credit card debt. Jack sends Marla on a bus to leave town, and then goes off to stop the bombs. While he stops one of them, Tyler leads Jack to the top of the building, where he reveals that Marla is being brought up to them. Jack manipulates reality so that he is the one holding Tyler's gun, shooting himself in the mouth, killing Tyler. Jack and Marla reunite, reconcile, and watch the destruction around them, ending the movie.
Fight Club is a cinematic work of art. Director David Fincher did a phenomenal job setting up the way the film was both framed and shot. Actors like Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter, Meat Loaf, Jared Leto, and so forth were all fantastic. Last, but not least, the writing is very clever. Sadly, it didn't do very well at the box office, but got a massive cult following and is praised to this day. I really like this one, and I give Fight Club a rating of 5/5. This is Chuck signing off. See you guys next time when we continue 90's Throwback Month.
The movie focuses on an unnamed narrator, who we'll call Jack for simplicity's sake. Jack works as a recall coordinator for a major car company. He also suffers from insomnia, and hasn't slept in weeks. After attending a life support meeting, befriending Bob Paulson, and letting himself cry, Jack finally gets some sleep. Continuing to attend various life support meetings, everything seems to be going well, until a woman who is also just attending the meetings for no reason at all arrives. This would be Marla Singer, an impoverished woman who might just be slightly insane. Jack finds himself unable to sleep once again as another faker, Marla, is at the meetings he attends. Jack and Marla, after a chat one evening, decide to split the week up so that they don't have to see each other. During a routine work related set of flights, Jack meets the enigmatic soap maker Tyler Durden, and the two quickly become friends. Upon landing and returning home, Jack finds his condo completely destroyed. Jack then reaches out to Tyler, and they meet for a drink, upon which Tyler agrees to let Jack stay at his place, and the two have a brief fistfight in the parking lot. We also learn that Tyler, who's a bit on an anarchist, works as a projectionist at a movie theater, as well as working as a hotel restaurant waiter.
As weeks roll on, Tyler and Jack live in their dilapidated house, fight in the parking lot of the bar they frequent, fighting with other patrons who are interested in joining them, etc. Tyler and Jack, with help from bartender Irving, set up shop in the bar's basement, forming Fight Club. As weeks turn into months, more people show up for Fight Club, including Bob, Ricky (Jack's co-worker), and a blonde pretty boy (played by Jared Leto). After a confrontation with Lou, the bar's owner, they are allowed to continue using the basement. Tyler comes up with various homework assignments, most of them acts of anarchy and vandalism, for the members of Fight Club to carry out. Meanwhile, Tyler has been sleeping with Marla, who called Jack for some odd reason, and now is stopping by regularly. Tyler also starts building bunk beds in the basement of the house, with members of Fight Club showing up, eventually cleaning up the house and continuing Fight Club, as well as their anarchistic acts. This ultimately leads to the revelation of their group being called Project Mayhem, who carry out acts of anti-corporate vandalism. After a Fight Club where Jack smashes the face of blondie (yeah, I mean Jared Leto's character), Tyler and Jack, along with Ricky and another member, drive in a limo, running through traffic, and driving off of the hill, crashing the limo. By the next morning, Tyler is gone.
Jack walks around the house, and Project Mayhem is fully self-sufficient. A botched job, which results in Bob being killed by police, leads Jack to leave, following in Tyler's footsteps. Upon a number of individuals referring to him as such, including Marla, Jack realizes that he and Tyler are one and the same. Tyler reveals that Jack created him as an escape for his inhibitions, but still sees himself alongside Tyler due to being unable to fully embrace being like Tyler. So everything that Tyler did throughout the movie (forming Fight Club/Project Mayhem, the two night jobs, and sleeping around with Marla) were Jack's doing all along. Jack then returns to the house, now empty of people, but not evidence of making tons of explosives, planning to destroy various buildings that are offices of credit card companies, thus erasing all credit card debt. Jack sends Marla on a bus to leave town, and then goes off to stop the bombs. While he stops one of them, Tyler leads Jack to the top of the building, where he reveals that Marla is being brought up to them. Jack manipulates reality so that he is the one holding Tyler's gun, shooting himself in the mouth, killing Tyler. Jack and Marla reunite, reconcile, and watch the destruction around them, ending the movie.
Fight Club is a cinematic work of art. Director David Fincher did a phenomenal job setting up the way the film was both framed and shot. Actors like Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter, Meat Loaf, Jared Leto, and so forth were all fantastic. Last, but not least, the writing is very clever. Sadly, it didn't do very well at the box office, but got a massive cult following and is praised to this day. I really like this one, and I give Fight Club a rating of 5/5. This is Chuck signing off. See you guys next time when we continue 90's Throwback Month.
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