Hold on there just a minute. Let me get my thesaurus...

What is disturbing (better word, huh?) about this film is the fact that it not only glorifies violence, self-destruction, and vandalism, but that it also interjects a sick and twisted sense of humor. There were a few times that I almost found myself laughing, as the rest of the audience was, only to stop myself and realize the horrible thing that was somehow meant to be funny. Some of the humor was indeed funny, but, as I have mentioned, some of it was just sad.

And speaking of the audience, it was interesting to note as well. It consisted, primarily, as expected, of young adult males, of a somewhat rough or crude exterior (as they walked down the aisles, you could smell them before you could see them). But what was also interesting was that there were a few couples there on a romantic date. HAHAHAHAHA!

One really weird thing is that this movie uses subliminal images. Somehow I thought that this was outlawed or something. But sure enough, several times I saw, for a split second, the image of a man in a red coat or something (probably Pitt as Durden in the picture above). And to make sure that we catch the ones toward the end of the film, the plot of the story points this technique out to us as Tyler Durden (Pitt) demonstrates just one of his ways of wreaking havoc on society.

My main complaint with this movie is the fact that it took the single most horrifying thing possible to a man, and exploited it (nay, abused it) not once, not twice, but three times! I refer, of course, to the (I must use a metaphor to mitigate the shock, pain, and fear) threat of the robbing of the family jewels. To its credit, however, the movie could have done even worse, I suppose, in which case I would boycott 20th Century Fox for the rest of my life.

A secondary complaint that I have with the film is the ending. On paper, I am sure, it looks good: boy holds girl's hand and watches from skyscraper window as all other skyscrapers in the city collapse and fall, one at a time, according to boy's design. But man oh man (or should I say, boy oh boy?) did it ever look stupid on film! It was SO UNBELIEVABLY FAKE! I guess this movie is not a "special effects" movie, but still, it should have invested a little in the final scene. The only effects that this movie DID do well with had to do with blood (unless it was all real!!!). There was blood everywhere in this movie.

My final complaint is in how much of it is corny. Such as the title. And in the rebel commando group "Project Mayhem". That is about as corny as you can get. But then there is also "The first rule of Fight Club is...The second rule of Fight Club is...The...". That was really, really corny.

But even after all of these complaints, the fact remains that this movie is actually very well made. The plot is intricate, the acting is not bad, and the violence is believable and shocking, as it is intended.

Brad Pitt is great as a violent, misguided leader of pugnacious men - Tyler Durden. His thirst for power and destruction grow at an alarming rate. And Edward Norton as "The Narrator" (for good reason) is equally good as a man who has definitely lost his place in life. But what is weird is that neither of these characters can we really identify with. Perhaps it was meant to be that way...
Meat Loaf was also pretty good as Robert Paulson, or Bob (left), whose death was meant to wake us all up so that we realize that Tyler and his gang have gone too far. However, this point may have somehow been missed.