Saying that this year was a good year for American cinema is like saying that Mother Teresa was a good woman. That's an understatement. As a movie fanatic, I've seen a lot of movies this year, from The Matrix to Star Wars, from The Iron Giant to American Beauty. And every time I was amazed by what I saw. But nothing amazed me as much as FIGHT CLUB. FIGHT CLUB is director David Fincher's biggest risk yet, a film filled with as many immoral characters as it is intriguing ideas and theories. Fincher walked the path of moral ambiguity with SEVEN and with his latest work he does it again. The film is based on Chuck Palahniuck's 1997 novel of the same name. I have yet to read it (while waiting for the bookstore to ship me my copy) but the author describes it as a hypothetical scenario. He's not suggesting we go out and do any of the things the characters in the story do, but instead wants to present us with a view of the world according to someone caught in its death grip. The People of Fight Club There are two main characters in FIGHT CLUB: The Narrator (Ed Norton) and Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). The Narrator is an unnamed man in the story (so let's call him Jack). He's a gen-xer raised to the point of desperation. He can't sleep. He must have every clever little trinket he sees. The only way to find happiness is to destroy support groups for people with terminal illnesses. He says it's surprising how much people worry when they think you're dying. Durden on the other hand is a man with few scruples. He is not a bad man. He only wants to awaken people from the perpetual dream world they live in and will do anything to realize his vision of freeing people. He lives in an old house that was most likely abandoned a century ago. It is located in front of an old factory. Its nearest neighbor is a mile and a half away. Tyler makes and sells soap. He also has other jobs that give him time to do not-so-pleasant things like urinate in soup at high-class restaurants and insert questionable images into family films at major movie theater chains..