‘Dystopian’ reversal of 1999 cult film’s ending showed police winning out
By Helen Davidson, February 7, 2022
The Chinese streaming platform Tencent Video has restored the original ending to the film Fight Club after it amended the Chinese edition to tell viewers police had “rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals”, prompting a widespread backlash.
The wholesale reversal of the anti-capitalist, anarchist denouement to the 1999 hit film, which stars Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter, made international headlines last month.
In the edited version, Edward Norton’s character, the narrator, still kills off his imaginary alter ego Tyler Durden, but a subsequent scene showing high-rise buildings being bombed was cut. Instead, viewers were shown a blank screen with text telling them authorities had won out.
