Fight Club is a movie that people have obsessed over since its release in 1999. Although it was a box office disappointment at the time, the film’s fans were blown away by the complex ideas and unique feel of the movie. Twenty years later and Fight Club is considered a modern masterpiece.
With so many bold and controversial ideas at the center of the movie, Fight Club is interesting to look back on after a couple of decades. In many ways, the movie remains incredibly rewatchable, while other aspects of the movie feel very outdated. Here are some of the ways Fight Club aged well and some ways it has not.
Timeless: The Fincher Feel
People could argue that not every film in David Fincher’s filmography is a success, but it’s hard to argue that they are not all interesting in some way. Some of that is clearly due to his ability to choose compelling projects and attract great actors, but the main reason is his own distinct style.
Se7enis a very different movie than The Social Network which is a very different movie from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but they all have that Fincher feel. He makes every frame of the movie compelling and that skill is put to great use in Fight Club, making it a darkly beautiful film.
Aged: A Generation Raised By Women
Many young men that watched this movie clung to the hyper-masculine feel and the messages of those films. However, those messages might not feel so insightful given the current climate, especially as it relates to gender.
Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) explains at one point in the film that men of their generation have grown soft because they are a generation that had absent working fathers and were raised by women. The idea that women can’t raise strong men who contribute value to society is certainly a controversial idea. But the idea of a generation of men being shaped by women doesn’t sound so bad now.
Timeless: Rebelling
While most audiences might have expected the movie to be about a bunch of grown men who beat each other up, Fight Club evolves into a critic of modern society. Tyler and his crew begin moving outside of the fighting and take on the massive corporations that control society.
Even 20 years later, rebelling against the corporate-controlled world is a very timely idea. Even the recent Joker movie explored the idea of the overlooked citizens fighting against the entitled. The idea of this kind of rebellion is something people of any era can relate to.
Aged: Homegrown Terrorism
While the idea of holding corporations responsible is a fair idea, it’s clear that Tyler Durden and Project Mayhem take things too far. Their acts of disruption and vandalism get more and more outrageous until it escalates to full-on terrorism.
It’s hard to tell where the movie wants you to stop thinking of these guys as modern outlaws and start thinking of them as deranged lunatics. But the idea of following around these domestic terrorists who are not afraid of threatening and hurting people is unsettling in today’s society.
Timeless: Tyler Durden
Fight Club introduced the world to a truly iconic cinematic character with Tyler Durden. He is that impulsive, wild and charismatic man of mystery who our Narrator (Edward Norton) forms a friendship with.
The character is written in such a compelling way with him feeling like this ultimate rebel who won’t conform to what society thinks. It is also one of Brad Pitt’s best performances as he creates this otherworldly character that seduces the audience into following him. Even after all these years, Tyler Durden remains an unforgettable movie character.
Aged: Treatment Of Marla
Helena Bonham Carter gives the movie another great performance as Marla Stringer, a troubled and unusual girl who comes between the Narrator and Tyler. Carter is hilarious and one of the more sympathetic characters in the movie. Maybe that’s because of how horribly she is treated in the film.
Tyler, in particular, is awful to her, saying demeaning and sexist things behind her back and to her face. Marla’s own mental illness is also sort of brushed aside in the film and treated with little regard. And some of the sexual dialogue Marla is given in the film is truly unsettling.
Timeless: The Twist
Fight Club has one of the most famous movie twists of all time. The idea that the Narrator and Tyler Durden were the same people the whole time blew audiences’ minds back in 1999 and is now a widely known detail of the movie.
Normally, having such an important twist become common knowledge would hurt a film to revisit. However, knowing the twist actually makes the movie more interesting. It recontextualizes so much of the movie and you can watch out for the hints laid throughout the movie.
Aged: Tyler’s Pranks
While Tyler eventually evolves into some truly destructive acts of rebellion, he seemed to always be interested in some solid pranks. Most of those pranks were incredibly vulgar, like during his time as a waiter when he would add extra ingredients to the food.
However, his most infamous prank was when he worked as a projectionist at a movie theater and would splice in quick frames of pornography into family-friendly movies. Not only is subjecting kids to that pretty disturbing, but it would be pretty impossible in today’s digital projection era.
Timeless: Ending
As incredible as the twist in Fight Club is, you might forget that the truth is revealed at the beginning of the third act in the movie. However, the film manages to remain compelling even after the reveal which leads to one of the most unforgettable endings in film history.
After shooting himself and getting rid of Tyler, the Narrator reunites with Marla Singer. They stand together in a skyscraper overlooking the city as Tyler’s plan is put into effect. Explosions begin going off and the credit card companies crumble to the ground and The Pixie’s song “Where is My Mind” plays. It’s a powerful way to end such a unique film.
Aged: Mass Shooting Jokes
Fight Club is filled with very dark humor which fits perfectly in this subversive world filled with rebellious characters. But such dark humor really runs the risk of becoming outdated quite quickly.
The most disturbing of the jokes is the Narrator’s matter-of-fact threatening of carrying out a mass shooting in his workplace. The moment is meant to be the Narrator’s way of getting the upper hand on his boss, but it just makes us feel that this is a truly unhinged man who might be capable of such a violent act.
