In 1999 I saw this movie and it's goal worked--the plot resonated with me. Nice guy at the tail end of your twenties, life a meaningless work and consume, paying rent and credit card debt. Watch everything you say and do to avoid getting fired, but get walked all over anyway. Have no strong social connections, and women ignore you. The Narrator deals with his insomnia by joining various support groups, but it's false. The emotional expression helps, but he's not releasing anything, just like in his job going through the motions. Or to quote one of the movie's many memorable lines, “This is your life and its ending one moment at a time.” Tyler is two things; one the infallible "cool guy," a literal projection of what the Narrator wishes he could be; dressed well, looks good, gets all the women, doesn't deal with consequences. But it's another false idea, however this time it's what he aspires to. The other is a by the numbers militant. Preach finding a purpose, offer men a chance to reclaim their masculinity, demand discipline and focus. Start the revolution. And here the movie fails, and why I haven't watched it in years. A dorky guy like the narrator starts not a local club but a national movement, just thinking he was Tyler. He frees himself of Tyler, by well, UA-cam would censor me but in real life he wouldn't survive or be able to talk. Marla, the troubled woman who's also an imposter in emotions but a hot time in bed, stands loyally by his side. And the ultimate goal? We're all slaves of credit card debt so blow up the buildings in Delaware that house the records and free ourselves. The first three quarters of the movie was entertaining and fun, but the build up had to pay off, and it was like the writer was clutching at straws for the big reveal.
In 1999 I saw this movie and it's goal worked--the plot resonated with me. Nice guy at the tail end of your twenties, life a meaningless work and consume, paying rent and credit card debt. Watch everything you say and do to avoid getting fired, but get walked all over anyway. Have no strong social connections, and women ignore you. The Narrator deals with his insomnia by joining various support groups, but it's false. The emotional expression helps, but he's not releasing anything, just like in his job going through the motions. Or to quote one of the movie's many memorable lines, “This is your life and its ending one moment at a time.”
Tyler is two things; one the infallible "cool guy," a literal projection of what the Narrator wishes he could be; dressed well, looks good, gets all the women, doesn't deal with consequences. But it's another false idea, however this time it's what he aspires to. The other is a by the numbers militant. Preach finding a purpose, offer men a chance to reclaim their masculinity, demand discipline and focus. Start the revolution.
And here the movie fails, and why I haven't watched it in years. A dorky guy like the narrator starts not a local club but a national movement, just thinking he was Tyler. He frees himself of Tyler, by well, UA-cam would censor me but in real life he wouldn't survive or be able to talk. Marla, the troubled woman who's also an imposter in emotions but a hot time in bed, stands loyally by his side. And the ultimate goal? We're all slaves of credit card debt so blow up the buildings in Delaware that house the records and free ourselves. The first three quarters of the movie was entertaining and fun, but the build up had to pay off, and it was like the writer was clutching at straws for the big reveal.
"I’m not here to be a hero. I’m here to be a wake-up call"
He is a villain we now but this quest are truth
nah