Fight Club - Spoiler Review

‘’How much do you know about yourself if you have never been in a fight?’’ Tyler Durden

Fight club is a exciting, on edge film that appeals to all that desire to be kept guessing. The film is pact with suspense and mystery as you find out the truth behind Tyler Durden.

Fight club is an American thriller film that was made in 1999. The interesting film was directed by David Fincher and includes many well known, talented actors such as Brad pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter.

The most important thing about the film is that the main character doesn’t actually have a known; he is just referred to as the narrator. As the film begins you are confused and wonder what’s going on as you are thrown in at the deep end, the film starts with a scene with a man holding a gun into another mans mouth. From the first second of the film, you begin to ask questions, Why? Who? and What? The narrator explains about how bombs may go off and the only reason he knew is because Tyler knew. The film the goes to another scene of the narrator in a support group for men with testicular cancer, again this confuses the viewers and builds suspense and raises a few questions, does he have cancer? Is he dying? The narrator then suggests we rewind to the beginning.

The narrator explains his life; he comes across as unhealthy, weird, confused with puffy eyes. The man explain how he can’t sleep and he has insomnia, from the voice over of the narrator you can link the two together, his voice is slurred and seems very dull and un interesting. After sharing his feelings and illnesses, the narrator goes on to show that he wants \ thinks he need medicine as he is not sleeping and it is extremely bad, this then goes on to show he is rejected and is told by a doctor that all that will help him is sleep its self. The suspicion arises when the narrator then goes on to show he joins a variety of different support groups, for things he doesn’t have. This scene then refer to the opening scene, it answers the viewers questions that the narrator does not have cancer. The voice over explains that with the groups, he feels wanted and special and he feels like he can let go and cry and he is listened to, this helps him sleep at night and therefore he becomes addicted to the groups. This gives us the impression that he is a very lonely man, who needs a friend. If he makes himself feel better by hanging around with the less fortunate then this causes different questions as to what sort of man he really is.

A year goes by and the narrator is still living the same old life, going into support groups, letting go, crying and then having a good nights sleep. This is where we meet Marla Singer, Marla is seen doing the same thing the narrator done, he sees her attending more and more of the support groups, the narrator is not happy about this. As there is another 'faker' in the groups it stops the narrator from feeling like the people care, this stops him from being able to let go and cry resulting in him not being able to sleep once again. After some time, the narrator can not deal with it all so he decides to confront Marla about the situation and asks her to leave. They talk and in the end decide to split the days, they part and think they are never going to see each other again. This particular scene reveals a lot about the two characters, Marla is revealed a very confident mysterious character as she just walks around without a care. Crossing the road is a very simple task however, the way the producers have set this scene reveals how each character differs drastically, Marla doesn't even look and confidently strolls out between cars and causes a scene, where as the narrator timidly stands there waiting for a large gap showing him as a less confident, shy man.

After the two part the narrator goes on to explain about his, life and his work. The narrator is a very peculiar character as he gives off the impression that he would rather be dead, whilst he is on the plane explaining how he has to travel a lot he says 'every time the plane banged to sharply on take off or landing i prayed for a crash' giving the viewers the impression he is a very lonely man, this is when we begin to wonder and ask questions about the strange, character of the narrator. In this particular scene we also meet the man himself Tyler Durden, Tyler seems a attractive, well kept, sane man, we soon find out what he is really like!

As the two men depart from the plane, they go their separate ways, thinking they will never see each other again, little did they know what was round the corner, or did they? As the narrator approaches his flat he is confronted with a terrible disaster, his flat has been in a tragic incident. All his belongings have been destroyed, the narrator doesnt' know what to do or what to say, what is he going to do? The man firstly goes to call Marla, this straight away reveals that he is a very lonely person who has no friends, calling someone he has meet once and means nothing to gives the impression he has no one in his life that he cares for.  Marla answers but the narrator does not speak, he hangs up and the decides to call Tyler, this again shows that he has no true friends, a terrible incident had just happened and he had no one to call but some one he had just meet half hour ago. The two men meet in a bar and have a few drinks, they get to know each other and then they leave the bar, Tyler knows that the man is looking for a place to stay so he gets him to kick up the courage and ask, they arrange it and it is set, Tyler now has a new room mate.

Before they set off for the house, Tyler asks a very strange thing of Tyler, 'Hit me' he says to the man, confused and not knowing what to do he asks what he is on about. Tyler convinces him and then they end up having a full blown fight outside the bar, the end up beating each other up so badly they are bleeding and cut. This is where we start to see the fighting aspect of the film, however this scene is one that raises man different questions as it is a very peculiar incident that you don't see everyday, it makes you wonder, why they are doing it and what an earth they are achieving by doing it.

After the fight you see both men at the house, the house is very dirty and old. The abandoned, falling apart building cant have any power when it is raining and the crakes int he roof allow drips to fall through on to varies places in the house. You can see how Tyler's lifestyle is a negative one, from the first impression we got of tyler this is a shock to the viewers. We then see them grow and become closer as friends.

As the pair become closer, they carry on fighting outside clubs and bars. More and more people heard about it and joined in, from this they realised they are not alone From this the 'Fight Club' begins! Many different people join the club, there is a secrete location where the club happens and Tyler gives the rules each week so that there is no miss understanding. During one incident, The narrator gets badly beaten, and need to go doctors, during this sense he says 'Sometimes Tyler even speaks for me' this becomes clearer and more meaningful later on in the film.

Scenes later Marla randomly appears, the phone rings its her, the mysterious lady returns! The narrator does not want to be involved with her, so just sets the phone down so that Marla keeps talking but he doesn't have to listen, this is where the drama starts. Tyler picks up the phone and ends up going round to get Marla, the both come back to Tyler's house and they end up having sex. The morning after the narrator isn't very happy, he does not say anything however from his body language and the tone in his voice you can tell he feels a bit dodgy about it. Marla tries to speak to the narrator, but he is confused as to why she is there when he ask why she is at the house Marla gets annoyed and walks out, this creates suspicion with the audience. Marla reacts like the narrator should know she was there, the fact she gets flustered and angry and walks out is mysterious and makes you wonder why she did this. Tyler then comes into the room and starts to question him about his feelings towards Marla, he then turns very serious and tells him that he must never talk to Marla about him and he must never discuss their relationship, the narrator promises however he is extremely confused about this. To the audience this is very weird, why an earth wouldn't a grown man be allowed to talk to a lady about what ever he wants? Also why does the narrator do what Tyler says, why does Tyler have such power over him?



Marla visits a number of times, one one spcific occasion is more mysterious than all the rest. The narrator and Marla barley talk when she is round their house, one afternoon he asks her to leave, again Marla is confused and angry by this she replies as she walks out of the door, 'your such a nutcase i can't begin to keep up'. This implies that something is going on between then, the audience is left unsure of what is going on.

During his time at the house the narrator receives a phone call from the police about his old condo, the police inform him that they have reason to believe that the fire was cause by a home made bomb and that it was purposely set on fire. Half way through the conversation the narrator gets flustered and questions the man weather he is a suspect, this raises different questions and opinions as why an earth would you ask this when it is your own condo, before now it had not crossed any ones minds that it was him that set his own flat on fire, now we wonder. One of Tyler's many different jobs is that he makes and sells soap, he teaches the narrator how to make it, but when doing this he severely burns the narrators hand to teach him to deal with the pain and not to block it out.

You see a change in the narrator as you see him back at work and he has a row with his boss, he stands up for himself and builds confidence like Tyler has, the narrator also says 'Tyler's words were coming from my mouth'. The fact he says this builds suspicion as during the corse of the film he has said many different things similar to this, 'Sometimes Tyler speaks for me' also during the film Tyler always bosses the narrator around and dictates what he should and shouldn't do. This is very weird as their relationship is not a normal one.

The fight club starts to get more and more serious, Tyler starts to give out homework and the club expands beyond just fighting, Project Mayhem' is born. Tyler tells the people to complete different tasks, such as smashing up cars, creating posters, changing signals or signs and mainly damaging property. When people start to get worried about all the different events go on, Tyler gets a group of people together and go to one of the main meetings where they are deciding to create a search group to look for the people responsible. They kidnap the main leader of the organisation, and threaten him to call off the search.

Tyler gives himself a task and pulls a gun on man, he threatens him and tells hims to go do something productive with his life, he tells him that if he doesn't quit his job at the shop and become a doctor he will shot him. The narrator doesn't agree with this a thinks it was to harsh, and dangerous; however he then finds the gun was never loaded. More and more incidents happen that the narrator doesn't agree with, a massive fire was started in a large building and he finds it totally unacceptable, however because of this he feels left out and like he is not receiving all the knowledge everyone else is. The narrator confronts Tyler about this and they have a little disagreement, during this Tyler shouts out 'Your pathetic look at you, why do you think i blew up your condo?' This creates much confusion, why? Tyler had not even meet the narrator at this point they were abroad when they met how could he of done it? What is going on, why did Tyler do it? When the narrator arrives back at the house, Tyler is no where to be seen, where has he gone? Why has he gone?

After much confusing the narrator decides to go looking for Tyler he is confused and unsure of what to do, while he does this he says 'everywhere i went i felt like i had been there before' this refers back to the narrator being controlled and over powered by Tyler why did he feel like this? The narrator talks to a bar tender and he acts like he had seen him before, the narrator is confused, the bar tender then calls him 'Tyler Duden', why did he do this? Is he mucking with his mind or is the narrator really the real Tyler Durden? The narrator is now truly confused, thinking he is Tyler he rings Marla and questions her to weather they have ever had sex, she replays ' Yes' she also calls him 'Tyler', the narrator i now utterly confused and has no clue what to do. Then suddenly just out of the blue, Tyler appears!

Tyler and the narrator have a heated discussion and fight other what the hell is going on. Tyler argus that they are the same person, he explains that he is a figure of the narrator imagination. Who is telling the truth? Who is Tyler Durden? The scene then switches and the narrator seems normal, he seems to try and stop project mayhem, and save the mess Tyler has created. Firstly he sends Marla away, he believes she knows to much. To try and stop all the madness he hands himself into the police so that no harm can be done, with all the thoughts going through his head he is not sure what to think, when the main detective walks out to talk to other staff members, 3 detectives question the narrator and tell him they new he would try to stop project mayhem. Police say 'you said if any one got in the way we should stop them. Narrator replies 'your making a big mistake' to what they reply 'you said you would say that', so the narrator replies ' i am not Tyler Durden' the police men then repeat 'you said that you would say that too'. The narrator escapes from the three men and runs as fast as he can to one of the building where he believes the bombs are going to go off.

Tyler appears when the narrator reaches the buildings, Tyler act likes he is not bothered, however when the narrator tries to stop the bomb he gets in the way, the narrator shots Tyler and nothing happens, this then reinforces the idea that Tyler is in fact a made up person and he was telling the truth. Tyler and the narrator have a fight, Tyler has the upper hand as he can appear and reappear (due to him not being real), we also see the fight from the cctv cameras point a view and this again goes against the narrator in that Tyler is in fact a person of his imagination, Tyler does not appear in the cameras. The narrator gets knocked down by Tyler then it flashes back to the first scene of the film with him with a gun in his mouth.

Tyler is threatening the narrator with a gun, he does not shot but he torments him. Out of the window the narrator sees that Tyler has found Marla and brought her back, he gets angry about this, before anybody can reach the top of the building where the two men are, the narrator  has a brain wave, he realises that he controls him, therefore he imagines the gun in his own hand then he shots himself so he lives but it kills Tyler. Marla appears and the narrator and her stand together watching all of the buildings sadly explode and fall down to the ground.

Overall i think the film it very interesting and has a very good exciting story line, however as a thriller i would say some improvements could be made. The twist was not clear the whole way through and the idea of mystery and suspense was not there. The idea and thought behind the main character and Tyler is good and very unique but it is not clear that something strange is occurring until the very end. However i would watch this film again and i do recommend it.  I would give the film 3.5 out of 5 stars.