Five Stars for Fight Club

"People are always asking me if I know Tyler Durden," the narrator (Edward Norton) says to open the movie. I stop on this HBO channel, wondering why Edward Norton has a gun in his mouth with his hands tied behind his back in an office chair. I continue to watch, asking how this man might know Tyler Durden. Fight Club soon became my favorite movie.

The first reason why I decided I liked this film was how it made me think. Quotes like "If you wake up at a different time in a different place, could you wake up as a different person?" really caught my attention and made me think about a concept like the one stated in the quote. Tyler Durden proposes that none of us are special, and the human race is composed of the same decaying matter. He says we are "the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world." This is a very harsh concept, true, but has everyone thought they were not special at some time in their life?

Another aspect that made me enjoy this movie was the witty dialogue adapted from the original novel by Chuck Palahniuk (also recommended for you to give a try) and how the actors portrayed it. The clever cast of Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter made the movie bleed talent, tearing the script inside out and ripping open the core of a more twisted moral that very few choose to understand. The actors were memorable in every single way, making you say "Oh, Edward Norton? He was in Fight Club!" after having him brought up in conversation. No one else could have interpreted the parts better, or have looked better shirtless.

Probably the most important reason why this movie is a must-see is how it is a chex-mix of genres, making all involved in the watching of this film enjoy it in some sort of way. It is intellectual for the reasons stated in the first paragraph. The movie touches on points and concepts people do not normally think or talk about in everyday life. It explains a world that we could create if only we could (or could not?) take charge of our lives. It is romantic in a demented way, as we all have love-hate relationships. It is dramatic, in that no one understands the narrator and all he goes through. His life and relationships are dysfunctional, and he does not comprehend what goes on in his own mind. Most of all, it is a violent/action/adventure, a little bit about sweaty men and soap.

With this in mind, Fight Club is a classic on my list of movies that every human should see before they die. It is a tragic, romantic, violent, dramatic biography of the Paper Street Soap company and how one man's life needed to change. "You met me at a very strange time in my life," the narrator says, watching the world fall before his eyes, thinking maybe now his life will start over again.