I nearly didn't watch the movie containing the Scene Of Our Times

Rating: 9/10 (8 April 2004)

I finally got around to seeing Fight Club last night (on 9 April 2004) - a good 5 years after it came out. You see I've been avoiding watching the film for quite a silly reason ... and now I can't believe how much my first impression of Fight Club was off the mark. You see, we only have one life and I'm certainly not going to spend it watching vehicles for profit-making passed off as art. With Hollywood still kicking around, I don't watch 99% of films made. That makes me soo happy just thinking about it. I see about a dozen movies a year and by golly I make sure all of them are worth it.
So, my reason for avoiding 'Fight Club'? it was because I just couldn't think a movie with that title could be any good. That's it. Please hit me, I deserve it.
Anyway, bit by bit over the years my desire to see it increased. People kept telling me what a great film it was. I would ask them to rate some other films to check out their critical analysis skills (relative to mine) and sometimes people would have exactly the same movie tastes but they would include 'Fight Club' as one of their all-time favourite movies. So I thought, one day I'm *totally* bored maybe I will ...
I watched the film ... what a ride!! Totally thrilling and rich in ideas, the highest quality art in every department, and bravely executed (the last scene is definitely the Scene Of Our Times). My only criticism is from a movie-impact point of view - I don't think the film gives a helpful reflection of how humans really are. Despite the dialogue correctly identifying the source of human alienation (the capitalist system), it seems quite a few people have missed half the message. When people say they are Tyler Durden or that all humans are, and then forget to mention that this is not inevitable or a natural part of our nature but one induced by living inside the system, well this is dangerous. They look at the world going to pieces around them and say 'we're f**ked' and see humans as the source of the world's problems instead of the system. Actually the film's dialogue does repeat this over and over, I just wish more people would understand the difference, especially on this site!!
Anyway, this experience has taught me a lesson - if you don't give people a go, or ideas a go, you don't learn anything and if you do, you will. If you only want to experience the good you'll miss out on a lot of it due to inbuilt prejudice. I nearly didn't watch this film - I'm shuddering just thinking about it.
So, if you haven't seen Fight Club yet, do yourself a favour - forget the title and any images in conjures up in your mind - there's so much more to the film. I wished I'd seen it at the movies - I would have loved to watch other people's expressions as they came out after seeing that last scene. Again, watch this film - don't make the same mistake I nearly did !!!