THE PLOT THUS FAR

WHAT WE THOUGHT

I read “Fight Club” the summer before it was released into theaters. I thought that I wasn’t going to have the good fortune to read the novel before the film, but it was delayed due to fallout over the Columbine High incident. A few of the people that I first saw the flick with dismissed it as macho porn. Those people were fools, who couldn’t see past the violence to what was really being said. What exactly was spoken by Tyler Durden?

“Fight Club” opens in media res with our Narrator (Edward Norton) left at the mercy of Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). The Narrator starts the flashback to explain the audience what had lead him to this point. The Narrator is an insomniac who went to support groups to pass his time. He draws on the sympathy and pain that surrounds him, as he tries to find a way to inner peace. Everything is going great until Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter) intrudes upon his world.

The Narrator flies off the handle, as he can’t seem to understand how he feels towards Marla. Later, he’s on a redeye flight where he meets Tyler Durden. Tyler charms the Narrator with carefree tales of making soap and living free. The Narrator is happy to meet his best single-serving friend and they soon part ways. It’s only after a devastating apartment fire, that fate brings the Narrator and Tyler back together.

The Narrator and Tyler talk and bond over the bullshit that makes up their daily lives. Everything leads up to the Narrator’s first fight in the bar parking lot, where an idea is born. The Narrator and Tyler join together to start an underground Fight Club. Soon, they can’t keep the men away. The poor and disenfranchised masses of men huddle together in a dark, seedy basement to beat the living hell out of each other.

Everything’s going great, as the Narrator starts to carry the newfound fight within him into his daily life. The Narrator goes after his own boss Richard Chesler (Zach Grenier) and manipulates him into paying for a year’s worth of work. In the process, he quits and decides to focus on branching out Fight Club to other cities. That’s when the trouble starts. Marla starts to come between Tyler and the Narrator, as the focus switches from Fight Club and to Project Mayhem.

Life starts to spin out of control for the Narrator, as he comes to realize that he may not be who he thought he was. That’s why I’m going to end the review here. The flick’s surprise twist that kicks off the third act has become something of a cult obsessesion with movie fans. It’s a legendary flick that provided cinema with one of the most memorable characters of the 1990s. The entire flick has become the definitive moment in Fincher’s career and helped to skyrocket sales of the book to colossal proportions. What’s more important is that it’s the first flick to speak to young males in a way unseen since Holden Caulfield was considered relevant. That’s why at the end of the day we must always ask ourselves, What Would Tyler Durden Do?

The Blu-Ray comes with some new featurettes that cover everything from the sound design of the film to a bonus track that allows use to see through the Narrator's perspective. There's also another new featurette, but it bares the same as the ported over special edition features from the major 2000 double-disc release. The DTS 5.1 HD master audio track is probably the best HD Audio track struck for a major release this year. There's something to be said for a good transfer, but the audio on this disc redefines what the enthusiast will accept in their home theater. FOX has raised the bar again with this release.