If you haven't seen Fight Club yet, well... Welcome to the twenty first century. How was it under that rock where you live? This movie was sort of a cultural event back in the late nineties. It wasn't just a movie, it was The Thing everyone was talking about, and has since had every bit as much of an influence on the modern world cinema as Pulp Fiction and Goodfellas had had some years earlier. It's certainly one of the must download movies of the decade.

The story follows an unnamed narrator portrayed by Ed Norton. There's a lot of "Office Space" type humor as he disparages his corporate white collar job, but there's an ugliness to it here, a darkness not present in Office Space. The movie is very deep and brooding and twisted, while at the same time sarcastic and nonchalant about the whole thing.

The narrator meets Tyler Durden, and the rest is history. Durden is a character who is completely free of the boundaries of society placed on most people. You know Kramer, from Seinfeld? He's kind of like that. Just, imagine how dangerous, frightening, and at the same time, inspiring, Kramer would be if you took him out of the sitcom setting and put him into a world where his actions could result in serious consequences.

Durden serves as the heart of the film in more ways than one. He and the narrator found the Fight Club, a get together where men can come and, well, fight each other. They let out all their frustrations and try to remember what it means to be a man by pounding their fists into one another. The movie follows the club as it grows into something more.

From there, it grows into a cultural movement, and a dangerous one, at that. It's fascinating seeing just how far it goes. It shows that there's a lot of rage and anger out there. It doesn't seem that far fetched that so many people would catch on to the ideas Durden puts forth, and while parts of the movie are outlandish, this part is not.

The ending is really something. Since then, it's become sort of cliche to end with a big twist about who's who, but at the time, it was really a new idea and it worked really well. A little gimmicky, maybe not even necessary to the purposes of the film, but it was really a surprise when you saw it the first time.

Ed Norton has since gone on to do a lot of... Well, some people call it Oscarbait. He does a lot of movies that are more, you know, "indie", and he's controversial, not all directors enjoy working with him. However, in Fight Club, he really gives the performance his all, creating a character who is both an everyman and a completely unique individual, and the perfect contrast to Tyler Durden. Pitt as Durden is every bit as capable, and turns in one of his best performances.

Love it or hate it, this movie, as shocking, grotesque and violent as it may be, is one of the most influential of the last twenty years, and at the very least, deserves its due respect.