If you like action packed movies that also deliver a complex social message along with powerful entertainment, then "Fight Club," starring Edward Norton and Brad Pitt is the movie for you. When this movie was released, it was instantly a hit, both commercially and as a cult movie. It has long maintained a high position in the Internet Movie Database's list of reader chosen best movies of all time. Simply put, this movie is a must see.
Our tale starts out with the protagonist, who is also the narrator of and commentary of the story in a seemingly dead end life that is quickly going nowhere. He is an insurance investigator, and travels around the country inspecting automobile accidents. He happens to sit next to a strange soap salesman on an airplane, and his life is forever changed.
He passes is time going to free counseling group sessions. He encounters Marla, another visitor to these meetings to try and find some meaning of life. At first they don't get along, and don't want to be caught together at any of the meetings, as they fear they will be ousted as fakers. So they decide to divide up the meetings.
Suddenly, the main characters' apartment is destroyed in an unfortunate accident, and he is left homeless. He receives a mysterious phone call from Tyler Durden, the stranger he met on his last flight. They discover an abandoned house and move is a squatters. They begin to recruit new members in their very first "Fight Club." They hold bare knuckle brawls in various areas of town, and their group expands quickly. It doesn't take long for other "chapters" to open up around the country.
The group changes from a fighting club, to some kind of organization with a political or social commentary angle to it. They begin to involve themselves in things that may be considered domestic terrorism. Our main character has enough, and tries to quit fight club. He find out that Tyler Durden has been doing things behind his back. As he fights to not only leave the club completely, but also to stop the mayhem they are planning to unleash on the city, he discovers something altogether shocking about himself, and the identify of Durden.
This movie isn't for you if you can't take a little violence. Many were disgusted with the amount of gratuitous violence, in the form of very bloody bare knuckle fighting. It does, however, deliver a very important message, one that many today would do well to listen to. If you haven't seen Fight Club, you should. If you have, you should see it again. At the very least it should be among your video collection.