Maybe i should seek out the book from which this was adapted to check my theories about what's going on here...Thing is ,i was annoyed at the publicity for this using the violence to sell it...and all the reviewers focusing on it,when the key to the story is really the "self-harm"...
Like in "American Psycho" it's ALL in his head. We know that there is no Tyler Durden and indeed there IS no "Fight Club",no undermining of societal vandalism,just vandalism,starting with himself...he's just gone totally nuts..suffering from "hyper-mania", whereby events surrounding him,and the way everyone acts and appear to relate to him, just serve to fuel and endorse the fantasy ...the best evidence for this in the film, i think,is the sequence where he takes multiple plane trips stopping into bars ,and getting knowing looks from guys with plasters on their noses,and he concludes that "Fight Club" has sprung up everywhere across the USA,and he alone is responsible...(sorry if you were all with me on this anyway...)
Whatever...it's a great film,not least for the amazing visual language that we saw for the first time here i think,when a journey starts at a nerve ending or synapse and ends in a loaded gun!