The Mind Fuck that is "Fight Club"

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How I managed to not see this film for so long is beyond me, but this weekend I finally saw Fight Club. I truly don't know how I feel about this film...it is something entirely different. I also have a suspicion that it wasn't made to be enjoyable. But having said that, it is a great film: well cast, well written and overall very well done. 

I'm really at a loss as to where to begin writing about this film. After watching it I felt stumped. I was confused, disturbed, impressed, scared, overwhelmed and enlightened all at once. I thought, like with Donnie Darko that maybe some time to digest and perhaps a second viewing might help me to establish an opinion on this film. Fast forward almost 48 hours later and unlike Donnie Darko, I'm still stumped! I think maybe I'll watch it again; I want to, but I'm not sure if I can bring myself to do it.

The hardest part about writing this review the way I have written others is that I can't think of a way to summarize the plot without spoilers and trust me, you do NOT want this film's plot spoiled as it is the key to everything. I was utterly mind fucked! Although looking back there are indicators so kudos to anyone who figured it out, on their own, during the film.  

Well I guess I should try to review this film. 

To start off, the acting was brilliant! Edward Norton at the best I've ever seen him! He is complacent and he hates it! He wants to change but he can't, even after meeting Tyler (Pitt). Tyler is the opposite. He is cocky, he is self destructive, he is overpowering, he is coarse. Then there is Marla (Helena Bonham Carter). "Marla... the little scratch on the roof of your mouth that would heal if only you could stop tonguing it, but you can't." The film is started by Marla and driven by her...in a sense. As the plot escalates, as fight club grows, Norton grows to resent Tyler and his new life. 

Fight Club for me isn't just a film, but rather an experience. It's based on the book of the same title by Chuck Palahniuk. It is incredibly well written with references ideas far beyond what you would expect out of a film that is so violent. Norton has a line about waking up as a different person, "Sleep, those little pieces of Death...How I loathe them." Poe said this and I feel it's applicable. When you sleep you die and in waking up you are reborn, thus creating a new you. Fight Club is an idea. It is a collection of ideas as well. Whether it was made to be enjoyable or rather to be thought provoking and disturbing or some combination, it's hard to disregard this film as junk. It's very well made and deserves more credit as a film than it receives, but the jury is still out on if I enjoyed it or not. ? out of 4. 

Someday I'll re-watch this film and hopefully I can then tell you what I think, but then again, maybe I still won't be able to.