Fight Club

Plot

The Narrator is a thirty-something year old automobile worker bored with his life. He participated in several groups for people with terminal illnesses. He met Robert Paulson, a man with "bitch tits", and Marla Singer, who also participates in these groups and doesn't have an illness. At a flight, the Narrator met a film projectionist and soap maker named Tyler Durden, whom they share the same briefcase. Tyler wanted the Narrator to hit Tyler. The Narrator hit Tyler by the ear, causing a group of men to join Fight Club. Fight Club was relegated to the bottom of a bar. Tyler Durden recruited several men including Angel Face to help him start an anti-consumerist male supremacy terrorist organization called Project Mayhem. Tyler has had rough sex with Marla while the Narrator is leaving the two alone. After a full night of sleep, Tyler Durden vanished. The Narrator saw Bob's corpse and Project Mayhem was unhappy that Bob died. The Narrator wanted to know what happened to Tyler Durden. The group told him that he is Tyler Durden. They start chanting "his name is Robert Paulson" because the Narrator wanted them to remember Bob's name. At a hotel, The Narrator called Marla and she called him Tyler, to his confusion. Tyler showed up in the Narrator's room and explained that the two of them are the same man. For example, when the Narrator said "Tyler isn't here" to Marla, she got confused. The Narrator created Tyler Durden to stop his insomnia, putting people's lives at risk in the process. Tyler revealed that he planted several bombs at credit card companies, which led to the Narrator trying to put them out. He was held at gunpoint at the top of the building by Tyler Durden. Since he and Tyler are the same man, the Narrator shot himself in the head to kill Tyler Durden. Project Mayhem and Marla Singer were worried about the Narrator's gun injury as the bombs were detonated by a member's failsafe.

Production

Matt Damon was considered to play the Narrator but David Fincher suggested Norton would play the Narrator better. Reese Witherspoon and Sarah Michelle Gellar were considered to play Marla Singer before Helena Bonham Carter was cast. Fincher wanted a marketing campaign that showed the Narrator and Tyler Durden promoting Paper Street Company but the executives at Fox replaced it with a marketing campaign that implies the film is about fighting instead of domestic terrorism.

Legacy

The film initially had mixed reviews and was a financial flop. It is considered one of the most controversial films of the 1990s, with graphic violence akin to A Clockwork Orange. As time went on, the film is now considered one of the most influential films of 1999 alongside The Matrix, Being John Malkovich, The Sixth Sense and American Beauty. A 2004 fighting video game for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox was made but didn't do well with none of the actors except Meat Loaf involved. The author Chuck Palahniuk considered the film to be better than his original 1996 novel.