Fight Club: the Similarities and the Differences between David Fincher's and Chuck Palahniuk's Versions

The scenery, the plot, the characters, and the dialogue of the movie all have the feel of the book, but there are obvious differences between the two. As is always the case, the movie is a bit of a toned down version of the book.

In the movie, Tyler isn't quite as psychotic as he is in the book. Although he is still a terrorist and chaos is still his mission, he doesn't go as far in the movie as he does in the book. He doesn't kill anyone in the movie, whereas he kills the mayor’s special envoy in the book. He also never intends to kill anyone in the movie - his gun not being loaded when he threatens Raymond K. Hessel – while he wants twelve “human sacrifices” and explicitly tells the members of Project Mayhem, "and just so you don't worry about it, yes, you're going to have to kill someone" in the book. I suppose that this is done to make him more likeable. I still think that he’s a twit.

Marla isn’t as depraved in the movie either. She still rambles on about death and a few other strange things, but there is no mention of her telling Tyler that she, “wants his abortion.” I heard that producers begged for that line not to be included (although they weren’t too fond of the grade school line either). In any case, Marla is actually a lot more likeable in the movie than in the book.

Overall, though, the scenery fits the story, the actors fit their roles, and the whole thing - fight scenes included - looks realistic enough. There are minor deviations in the movie from the book – such as the first time that Tyler and the main character meet, the attack on the police commissioner at the banquet, and attack on the main character at the police station – but these all help with the flow of the storyline. The ending, most notably of all, is different. In the movie, it is a bit happier. This, I think, was a good move on David Fincher’s half. We – the “middle children” of the earth – need our superficial happy endings to fill in the voids of our sad, consumerist lives...

Hints regarding the identity of Tyler are presented as cleverly in the movie as they are in the book. In the latter, it is foreshadowed in the way that the main character is treated by strangers (they seem to recognize him and wink), while in the former, it is in the way that those close to him treat him (Marla acts like he’s the one she likes and Bob thanks him for Fight Club). In both the book and the movie, the main character himself also foreshadows the truth. He asks if it is possible to wake up as someone else, and mentions how his fight with himself reminds him of his first fight with Tyler.

The tongue-in-cheek humor of the book is translated very well into the movie. The fact that I didn’t notice the music at all must mean that it was well done (that sort of thing is only noticeable when it doesn’t go well with a movie, makes your ears bleed, or the movie in question is a musical). In general, this is one of the few good book-to-movie adaptations that Hollywood has successfully made.