Five big-screen moments
(did they ask for a silly amount of money and then wonder what to do when they were given it?)
The opening credits. Look, it's a working brain! Now it's a gun! Now it's fallen through twenty stories!
The Ikea walk-through. We love effects like this so damn much. We love Natural Born Killers too, of course.
The plane crash. Genuinly scary ripped-up plane. For a two-minute dream? The ultimate example of The Hamster Factor...nice car crash too.
The brass-ball crash. Down with corporate art! Down with designer coffee! Right through the plate-glass window!
The destruction of the capitalist system at the end. And they waited for her to arrive! How stylish.
5 random cool moments
The straight-to-camera explanations. (Can he see us if we wave?)
The entire concept of going to work looking like that.
He eats mustard straight from the pot. He is patently demented.
The rubber glove. Our minds boggle.
The way she walks through traffic. Rebel! Show disrespect for the almighty Car!
Everything about the house. The list is endless, but start with the blood-red rusty water.
'Recycle Your Pets' etc. Oh the detailing.
The cave. Not only important, but stylish too.
The green trees and dictionary words, and any other 'un-necessary' camera business. It's not a TV documentary, it's the world's most complex artform!
The airport montage. No-one else ever mentions this, but it is so beautifully edited.
...OK, we lied about the '5'
Five great bit-parts
.
The airport security man: "but the tenth time, it's a dildo...".
The spacemonkey who 'interprets' his message: "In death, a member of Project Mayhem has a name..".
The hotel concierge: "You can't go into the unit...".
The single-serving woman: "And which car company do you work for?".
The insurance man: "Retainer wrapped around the ashtray...could make a great anti-smoking advert".
Film references (mostly just visual)
Apocalypse Now The shadow conversation, with The Narrator in bed and Tyler squatting.
Taxi Driver The Narrator labels himself 'Travis' and the shot neck.
The Matrix "The gun is in my hand".
Seven The rain on the car windows as Tyler and The Narrator argue.
Alien 3 The monkey shaving his head in front of the spotted mirror
Well, I laughed...
Most of the voice-over narration. We have a new world deadpan champion.
The bosses' office fight. Who looks more surprised?
The fights-with-strangers. That priest is quite promising.
The giant ": )" on the news.
The dripping lard.
The fake airline safety cards. Stellar throwaway seconds.
The cheesy ending. We were bent double in hysterics. Talk about cathartic.
Five post-modern moments
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"Wait. Let me start over here" - the facial expression appropriate to the voice-over and not the scene.
The direct-to-camera stuff in general is quite usual, but pointing to the mechanics of film-making is a bit further.
When he has sex in flashback, he is also wearing the expression suitable for the scene he is flashing from.
The subliminals can be explained as his thoughts, but the last one is the same that was being spliced, as if T was making the film he's in.
The fact you can see T at all, especially so solidly.
Five from N
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His look of horror and faint struggle as Bob pushes his head down.
He brushes his teeth so aggressively as the other two have sex, while intoning that he is the warm little centre of the world.
The childishly sulky look on his face as he watches her at meetings.
His fleeting look of bemused smugness when told he is 'spectacular in bed'.
After the whole 'buttoned-down psycho' speech, he takes a call and says "Compliance and marketing" in a cheery voice.
Five from T
.
Any of the sarcasm, especially "You lost a lot of versatile solutions to modern living" and the carefully blank face he applies to them.
The way he pours a glass of water while trying to pee.
The fight with Lou, with all the mad laughing.
He chews an apple and tosses it aside when first talking to Ricky.
He chooses to give the air hostess 'the crotch'.
Five from M
.
The hissy conversation in the restaurant.
She falls off the side of the bed while trying to sit.
The way she slides up to him in the meeting and pretends to cry into his shoulder.
The resigned kiss after the 'breast scan' when she realises she can't pull both of them.
Her sarcastic singing as she walks off again.
Five more from N
.
The way he stalks downstairs at work, brushing past the secretaries.
The 'fake flashback' balaclava ranting - it convinces, and the 'do not fuck with us'.
His refusal to explain what is added to the cream of mushroom soup.
The 'Tyler isnt here' drunk rant, especially the vacant smirk when he waves at the 'soap company'.
The drooling on the sofa watching infomercials.
Best of all..?
The penguin.
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