10 Great Movie Performances (That Got Better The Second Time You Watched)

2. Brad Pitt - Fight Club

Fight Club was one of those litmus paper artworks that channelled a cultural movement and hit a nerve with an entire generation of disaffected youths. Admittedly, it was widely misunderstood as a monument to the challenges facing "modern masculinity" (when in fact it's a criticism of toxic masculinity), but it partly sold on how cool its most iconic character was.

Tyler Durden might have been a distilled Anarchy For Dummies figure who we're supposed to realise is the villain of the piece by the end, but he's also inherently aspirational. His very creation is a fantasy: he's better looking, in better shape, has no social anxiety, f*cks who and how he wants and has seemingly successfully cast of the rules and limits of society. That's why he became such an important character even after the film's twist reveals he's an imaginary monster.

The twist obviously also demands you rewatch, to see whether it's obvious that Tyler is a projection and the knowledge that he is ostensibly an imaginary friend just makes him even better to watch.