Fight Club (1999) Pt. 3
PROS:
- Humor. This movie is just full of it: irony, juxtaposition, whatever. It’s all over the place. One of my favorite parts has to do with Tyler and his odd jobs:
“Why would anyone want this shit job?”
And this is just a sampling. The movie takes great care to, just when things seem too dire or serious, toss you a joke to lighten your spirits. When Chloe is dying of cancer, you don’t cry for her; instead, you feel deeply, hilariously uncomfortable at her distorted mention of pornographic movies and lubricants.
Additionally, this movie has some of the oddest background music in it, as evidenced through the DVD menu screen:
I once mistakenly left said DVD on and fell asleep, only to be woken in the middle of the night by the industrial (is that what it’s called? I’m guessing) hell of that menu, screaming into my ear. It’s quirky, but not in the way that people call Zooey Deschannel “quirky”; I find Fight Club’s music to be far more tolerable, and infinitely more genuine, more often than not adding to the tone of the film.
It’s amazing to me that this is all the more surprised she can look, despite still getting a paycheck for being typecast her entire life: “Whoa, another quirky-girl-role? No waaaay!”
Anyway, I think the movie has a great balance of message and humor. Really top notch.
- An interesting take on mortality.
Watch this. I’ll wait:
Takeaways:
1. “It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything” = real solace.
2. What an interesting question: “Our fathers were our models for god; if our fathers bailed, what does that tell you about god? ...in all probability, he hates you.”
3. “First you have to know, not fear, know, that someday, you’re gonna die.” An eventuality we would all be better prepared for if we gave it any real thought beforehand (Fight Club).
Before this movie, as a young boy attending Catholic school at St. Mary’s in southern Indiana, I would spend my nights awake in my bed. The lights were off, my parents were asleep, and there was no sound in the house to distract me from my thoughts. All I had were those thoughts, and since that was the closest thing I could imagine to oblivion, I began to try to compare the two: “is this what happens when I die? Will purgatory be like this? I’m almost certainly not going to heaven. I don’t know if I can do this.” I was terrified of the idea of spending any great amount of time, conscious, in conditions like that. I used to think, “What kind of benevolent God would allow such a thing?” This isn’t some atheistic confession, but, honestly, Fight Club changed my perspective. Realizing that, if god exists, it’s true: it may hate me, but my life is still going to happen. I’m still in control of it, and I still have to deal with all of the accouterments that go with. Now, as far as my sleep is concerned? “Babies don’t sleep this well.” Thanks, Mr. Palahniuk!
CONS:
- Ha! Fooled you. There are none. Ok, to be objective, this movie is a bit long, and the beginning is paced pretty slowly, but I refuse to call that a pitfall. That doesn’t deter it from being my favorite. Actually, there is one thing that I’m not upset about, but that others may find upsetting: this movie is profane. From the violence to the nudity, along with the colorful language and subversive suggestions, it’s definitely not run of the mill. The thing is, you can’t have this movie without all of it; it’s all incredibly essential. I apologize if you are offended by this movie, but to pass on this film for those reasons should be a crime.
To wrap, this movie is my favorite. Of all time. In all likelihood, this is one of a very small group of movies I will ever review on here that will receive a resounding A+. It’s been almost 17 years, and I still watch it every month or so to remind me of why I fell in love in the first place. For those of you who haven’t seen it, do so. For the rest of us: “in Tyler we trust.”