Fight Club | David Fincher, 1999

I feel for the majority of my adult life people have been telling me to watch Fight Club. It's almost strange to say I am now seeing it for the first time at 27. I always waved the movie off as an uninspired action movie of its time, and not really understanding what made it such a cult classic. I can now say after finally watching it that there is much more than parking lot brawls happening in this movie.

Edward Norton plays the narrator of this movie, a depressed and nihilistic insomniac who spends his free time buying material goods from ikea and hopping from one support group to the next - until he meets a peculiar soap salesman named Tyler Durden. Tyler can easily be described as the antithesis of Norton's character. He is brash, reckless, and unforgiving in his animalistic nature. We see Norton's character become immediately enamored with Tyler, who oozes confidence and even offers him a place to stay after his apartment is mysteriously blown up.

It is from here where our story really begins to take shape. I love the way Norton and Pitt play off of one another in this movie. Namely, as the plot progresses, we get hints of Norton picking up on Durden's behaviors and mannerisms. As bold as this movie is, it plays to its strengths in the subtle nature of the way the main protagonist evolves around his environment. The more time our narrator spends with Durden, the more things completely spiral out of control. Small sanctioned fights eventually become a global movement that not even our narrator himself can stop.

This is a movie that is greater than the sum of its parts. On the surface it may seem like a testosterone-fueled thriller with slick editing and pitch black comedy to back it up. However, there is a clearly deeper narrative at play here touching on mental health, isolation, toxic masculinity, and even sexual identity. Our main characters here create an environment for men to escape through violence and chaos; It is sad to see the same themes just as relevant today as they were in 1999.

Ultimately, I think Fight Club is equal parts entertaining and thought provoking, which is not always easy to pull off. I find myself actually enjoying it more as I sit here to type this, thinking of all the different layers to peel back. I did go into this movie knowing the plot twist that is revealed in the third act, and it was honestly fun to watch it having that perspective. This is a movie that earns its rewatch even if it isn't your cup of tea the first time around. I found myself not falling in love with it how I expected originally, only to feel it rising in score the more I think about it.

This is a hyper stylized film with a lot to say. It only briefly slows its momentum to take self-indulgent, gritty, and often grotesque twists and turn into the strange world of Durden and his followers. I give this film a rating of 3.5/5 stars on letterboxd.

Published by Logan Kern on 7/9/26

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