Fight Club by David Fincher - Movie Review Example

Film Analysis “Fight Club” 04-18-08 Fight Club is a book that was written in 1996 by Chuck Palahniuk and adapted to film my Jim Uhls in 1999. The film, directed by David Fincher, is a story about a grey collar man, Jack (Edward Norton) who lives an ordinary middle class life and works for an automobile company performing appraisals for product recall cost. The film is set in the dark, dripping concrete city and dreary colorless old house where he soon lives. Jack is a pathetic train wreck of a man with dark shadows beneath sunken eyes and pale clammy skin. There is not much music but instead amplified household and public sounds that make your skin crawl. The whole mise-en-scene of the film has a very gloomy and dark feel. Jack suppresses a rage that he develops over time because of the oppression of working for the white collar business man and the enslavement of men by modern consumerism. Jack meets Tyler, a soap slinging slick talking anarchist who preaches about breaking free from corporatism and says, “Only after we’ve lost everything are we free to do anything.” Tyler tells Jack this during a scene where he burns Jacks hand with lye in an attempt to send him spiraling toward his psychological “bottom.” This is where Tyler believes one must be in order to be reborn into a new society free from materialism. Together they build a new society of grey and blue collar men who feel robbed of their masculinity by being forced to serve the elite. They start Fight Club, where these men can come and feel united with their brothers in an expression of barbaric violence…a fight. Jack begins to live with Tyler after tragedy strikes his apartment and it explodes, ruining everything he owned. He and Tyler build an army though Jack is somewhat in the dark as to why. Tyler accepts applicants and strips them of their identities, even their name. They are reborn as members of “Project Mayhem.” With these men Tyler begins to sew the seeds of chaos into the corrupt corporate world. “I am Jack’s smirking revenge,” Jack remarks within his head one day as he blackmails his irritating and haughty boss. The story line takes a wild turn when Jack comes to realize that Tyler is his own alternate personality. Jack is angry with Tyler for not including him in Project Mayhem and badly beats a member of project mayhem during a normal fight. Tyler picks him up outside with a car and they begin to drive home. It is a rainy night and they are driving through town, neon signs and street lights pass over their faces along with the faces of two soldiers in the back seat. The depth of field is not large, but the moving background amplifies the dramatic effect of the scene. You can hear the sound of heavy rain over the engine of the car. Their faces are wet from standing in the rain and Jack sulks in his seat while Tyler drives with one arm and chews on a stick of gum. “Something wrong, dear?” he says sarcastically to Jack, who seems frustrated. At this point, the viewers are not aware but Jack is actually speaking to himself. “Yeah, why wasn’t I told about Project Mayhem?” He says accusingly to Tyler. The two men in the back answer in sync, “The first rule of Project Mayhem is: do not ask questions, sir,” another one of Tyler’s rules. At this point in the film Tyler is the obvious dominant personality; this is symbolized by the fact that he is driving. Also, the men in the back clearly answer to “Tyler” since “Jack” doesn’t seem to be in the know. “Why didn’t you include me in the beginning?” Jack says and Tyler answers, “Fight Club was the beginning now it’s moved out of the basement.” The argument escalates. The car, moving fast along the freeway contributes to the tension as well as the short takes of the two men’s faces as they argue. “You are missing the point,” Tyler yells “this doesn’t belong to us, we are not special.” “Fuck that you should have told me.” Jack retorts as Tyler begins to speed toward an oncoming vehicle. “Watch out!” Jack screams and grabs the wheel narrowly missing the car. Jack curses Tyler and the project. “What do you want a statement of purpose…” Tyler asks? “I want to know certain things.” Tyler chuckles in the gloomy color scheme, “You need to forget about what you know about life, and about friendship and especially about you and me.” He says with a half smirk on his face. Jack stutters with what to say while Tyler slowly takes the car over the double yellow line. “What are you doing?” Says Jack very nervous, you hear the sound of the studs in the road as the tires go over the lines. Tyler is attempting to break Jack down just like he breaks down all of the soldiers. Jack pleads with Tyler to go back into their lane as the headlights of an oncoming vehicle illuminate their faces through the storm. “Guys, what do you wish you had done before you die?” Tyler asks the soldiers, they answer immediately. “Paint a self portrait.” “Build a house.” Tyler stares at Jack, who face is puzzled with worry and bewilderment. In this moment Jack is forced to think about his own life and whether or not it is satisfying to him. He is forced to have the realization that the dreams of wealth and perfection that were instilled within him as a child are not reachable, and that he is “part of the same compost heap” as every single person on the planet. “I don’t know I wouldn’t feel anything good about my life is that what you want me to say?” He asks Tyler while his eyes are locked on the oncoming semi truck. The men in the back exchange nervous glances. “Not good enough.” Tyler says, staring at Jack not watching the road and accelerating. The horn of the truck is audible now. They narrowly miss it passing at highway speeds and Jack curses and screams at Tyler who, still chewing his gum takes his hands off the wheel and lets’ the car begin to steer itself. Jack grabs it, “What are you doing stop fucking around…” “Look at you, you’re pathetic!” Tyler yells. “Why do you think I blew up your condo? Hitting bottom isn’t a weekend retreat…” Jack stutters over what was just said, it’s the first time that he considered Tyler as a suspect for destroying his home. “Stop trying to control everything and just let go.” He says leaning back in his seat and carelessly looking out at the road. “LET GO!” “Alright, fine,” Jack says returning to his own seat. The car drifts from side to side the camera switches from the drifting steering wheel to a front view of the car where the rain sound is amplified and the headlights reflect off of the wet pavement. Tyler and the others hesitantly put on their seatbelts while a suspenseful beat fades in animating the scene audibly. A shot of Tyler’s foot depressing the gas peddle, and then a car on the side of the road stands between them and an embankment. There is a short take of the tire passing over highway flairs and then impact. The sound of the vehicles smashing together is delayed so that you see the impact before you hear it. They go tumbling down the embankment in a montage of broken glass, screeching metal and spinning tires and then the camera comes to rest on the blinker of their overturned car. An overhead angle depicts the scene; the four men struggle to free themselves from the wreckage. “I’d never been in a car accident; this must have been what all those people felt like before I filed them as statistics in my reports.” Jack thinks in a non-diegetic narrative insert. This moment in the film is symbolic of Jack hitting bottom. Throughout the movie, there is an idea that in order to fully realize oneself one must let go of all control and what they would call reason; in doing so you can be reborn into a new way of reason. The car accident was Jack hitting bottom and Tyler forced this to happen because it is what Jacks subconscious wanted to do. He wanted to let go of the restrictions of the cubicle office and the neck tie. He wanted to push himself to his physical and mental limits of existence in order to feel alive. As they exit the car Tyler begins to laugh hysterically and then says, “Guess what, we just had a near life experience.” References Fight Club. Dir. David Fincher. Perf. Brad Pit, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter. Twetieth Century Fox, 1999. Read More