Fight Club (1 Viewer)

[AbelM]

I just had a question about a part in this movie. In the end, when he shot the gun in his mouth, what happened? Which one died? Did any?
I love this DVD, and forever treasure it...but as many times as I have watched it, I still don't know

 

[Artur Meinild]

He does not die... Afair, the bullet goes thru his cheek, no?

 

[Rusty Ray]

yeah the bullet went through the cheeck, if you look in the supplements they show the fx for this and its clarified... actually it coulda lodged in his jaw, but anyway i guess the trauma of that "killed" tyler so to speak..

 

[mike martin]

A buddy and I got to talking about this once and came up with at least a plausible explanation of what might be going on. Obviously Jack is inflicting damage upon himself throught the film; but he thinks that it's Tyler's doing (the initial fights, the chemical burn, the apartment blast). In the end though Jack manages to turn the gun on himself and inflict the damage on himself. It is not Tyler doing it, it's clearly Jack. Throughout the movie there is the ambiguity of who is actually in charge and who is really "there" when things are going on. In the end it is Jack (or perhaps some conglomeration of Jack and Tyler).
Quite frankly this explanation seems a little shady to me; but it's the best we've been able to come up with.

 

[AbelM]

So there really is no explanation to what happened to Tyler, right?

 

[Andrew_Sch]

I think that the narrarator (his name isn't Jack) shooting himself was sort of a symbolic act saying that he was taking control and didn't need Tyler anymore, just as what's his face said previously. I remember the first itme I saw it I was so confused and I hated it but now it's one of my top five movies of all time.

 

[Alex Spindler]

Symbolically, Jack was trying to kill himself. He actually messed up (as many suicides do), but the act itself was lethal to Tyler. Tyler then ceases to be needed for Jack. Remember their last words "My eyes are open".

 

[Ken Seeber]

Actually, if you watch the supplements about the special effects, someone points out that you can see the bullet coming back out of the narrator's mouth. The idea was that it had ricoched off of his jaw bone. It's actually quite common for bullets to change paths after striking bone.

 

[JeremySt]

I agree that when the Narrator shoots himself, he rids himself of Tyler, by proving that he does not need him.

Aslo, at the beginning of the film, we see that the building that Tyler and Narrator are in has a bomb, and is counting down. This suggests that at the end of the film, narrator and Marla will be killed as well. Did I miss something suggesting otherwise?

 

[Alex Spindler]

I gave that some thought. Assuming that the camera drop is showing their building and not the one on the opposite corner (which is a possibility, but I doubt it), you see that the van under the building is the one with the bullet hole. That means that it's the one that is defused. I suspect that Tyler never rearms the bomb after knocking himself out and instead makes that his observation point. I'll bet he calls the gang and tells them to bring Marla and Beer to the now defused building.

The only problem is that now there is still one credit building left, but they had a wonderful view of the explosion.

Perhaps Tyler intended to rearm the bomb and take Marla (and maybe himself), but got distracted when Jack began to take over.

Hmmmm, love the bizarre logic that this brings. Had to spin it on getting home to reappreciate it.

 

[AbelM]

Wow, I am glad I am not the only one who had questions about this...

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Such is the beauty a brilliant movie like Fight Club: everyone has somewhat different interpretations of certain moments, yet they ALL make sense.
I'm telling you, Fight Club is a movie that will be remembered for a long time.

 

[Sam Hatch]

The concept was that in order to fully mature, you have to kill your parents, kill God and then kill your teacher.
The narrator has symbolically killed his parents when we meet him. He and his teacher (Tyler) kill God together -- and at the end of the film the narrator 'kills' his teacher.
Which was probably what Tyler wanted him to do anyways. His job was to help the narrator along the path to 'hitting bottom'. The narrator embraced the concepts behind all of this, but was always afraid to do it himself -- hence the 'premature enlightenment'. Tyler most likely became a threatening entity as a last resort, the only thing left that would push 'Jack' into action.
The gesture of consciously attempting suicide was proof of his 'hitting bottom', thereby releasing him from his need of a teacher. Tyler wasn't killed as much as he was returned to where he came from. The narrator has finally acknowledged all of Tyler's dangerous thoughts as his own, and has reclaimed them to do with as he sees fit.
The whole film he was running from Marla because she was so much like him yet so far ahead of him at the same time. She could hit bottom effortlessly, whereas he had to go insane to do the same. At the end he's finally in the same 'space' as she is and is now able to acknowledge his feelings for her.
But I always disagreed with the idea that Tyler 'died' and the narrator 'lived'. Tyler's ideas just went back to their home when the narrator 'evolved'. Just look at his attitude towards the space monkeys/destruction/etc. right before and right after the suicide attempt. He's clearly not the same man he was before. Okay, I'll shut up now -- but I love talking 'Fight Club'!
As for the bomb discrepancy, I'm gonna have to watch that again. I always assumed that the building they're in at the end in not one of the targets. That after Tyler beats the narrator's side into submission, he relocates to another building. I think he even mentions that he has somewhere all set up during the confrontation. I'm pretty sure he rewired the bomb in the van before he locked the door and broke the key off. I also thought that the opening CGI traveled into the basement of another building before showing the van. DVD, here I come!

 

[Sam Hatch]

Okay, I went and checked the disc. The van IS in their building. But if you listen to the narration in relation to the images on screen what you get is this:
Primary charges (in the van) will blow base charges (in the building across the street and so forth). He mentions that Project Mayhem has wrapped the explosives around the supporting structure of the buildings, which is not the case in the building they're in. It just has a van in the middle of a lot, whereas the other building clearly shows a bunch of boom-booms strapped to pillars.
So basically the van is a nerve net, which is why it's so important for him to disconnect it in time. By unhooking it, he's stopping the primary charge from triggering the others. And you can see Tyler stoop to reconnect the wires before he jumps out and locks the van. I don't know much about explosives, but I assume the van is not meant to actually destroy the building that its housed in -- just to kickstart the chain reaction.
Speaking of the building, is it even finished? The floor they're on at the end looks to be under construction still.
So all in all, it's a handy location to not only serve as a nerve center, but as a cool lookout as well. And if you watch the finale, the building across the street is the first to go off.
Okay, I'm really tired now. Pardon my longwindedness!

 

[Jakob_S]

Fight Club is about insanity! Tyler Durdon doesn't exist, only to the narator/Jack (Edward Norton). When he shoots himself in the end and Tyler Durdon dies, this means that his insanity is gone (...at least for now). Edwar Norton's charector is obviosly split in two halves of one person - Tyler Durdon and the narator is the same person!

I love Fight Club, I love David Fincher and I'm counting down the minutes to his next movie 'Panic Room'. Have you guys seen the trailer for that movie - well, it deffently looks awesome!

 

[Alex Spindler]

Okay, I'll shut up now -- but I love talking 'Fight Club'!

The first rule of Fight Club is...
An excellent interpretation. I'm impressed.

 

[AbelM]

I just have another few Questions Here:

1. Where's the outakes? I can't find them? I looked on the second disc and can't find them...

2. Is the Optimode THX Audio just as good as any other VE or Avia?

3. What about the Video Calibrating part? Is that good enough to leave your t.v. settings on all the time? Not just for movies?

 

[Artur Meinild]

Abel, I have answered your question in the other thread in software...

 

[Sam Hatch]

Crap, Alex -- I forgot that I broke the first rule! The second I see a bunch of bald guys coming at me with knives and rubber bands, I'm outta here!!

 

[TheoGB]

Sam, that's really intriguing - I will have to watch again now too.
When you watch with commentary I believe both the group and author's commentaries suggest that we are mistaken to think that the van is in the same building as our 'heros' - it is meant to be in the one across the way.
I'm pretty sure it's picked up by Chuck but Jim says no you're wrong but never comes back to the point to explain it.
I like your answer a lot better than the CGI guys cocking up, that's for sure.