I did not see that coming…

Arguably the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been one of the, if not the movie most sci-fi fans have been  anxiously awaiting.

Word was this film was very well received, and Disney studios so pleased with the final product, that director Rian Johnson was given free reign to create a new Star Wars trilogy which, according to him, didn’t even require much of a pitch.

Then came the reviews, and they were for the most part ecstatic.  Currently, the film is currently charting an incredibly high 93% positive among critics.  I wrote, however, a couple of days back about the fact that a) Rottentomatoes has a habit of lumping films into a good or bad category with little space for grays, and b) based on at least one review I found (granted, an exceedingly small sampling) I further wondered if maybe the critics were enamored more the Star Wars brand and were perhaps willing to overlook the film’s flaws.

Regarding that later point, I wondered if that was the case that maybe this film, like the Prequel films before it, would over time find people re-assessing their views on it.  I’m old enough to recall that the Prequel films -each and every one of them- were met with near complete adulation but over time people’s opinions of them soured and many now view them as not very good.

So too was the case, for some, with 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens.  People loved the film when it came out and it made a boat load of money but now, two years later, I suspect many see the film in a somewhat harsher light, even if they may not feel it was a complete bust.

Having said all that, what I didn’t expect, not in a million years, was the audience/fan reaction to this film.

As I mentioned above and if you go by rottentomatoes.com, critics loved the film.

Audiences?

Not so much.

Again, click here for the rottentomatoes.com score for Star Wars: The Last Jedi and you’ll find that while critics are 93% positive, audiences are at…

…hang on to your hats…

57%

Let that sink in for a moment.

The Force Awakens currently has an 88% positive rating by audiences over on rottentomatoes.com.

For further comparison, let’s look at the audience reaction to two recently released (and still in theaters in one case) action/adventure/sci-fi films that one could say are in the same general genre field:

Thor: Ragnarock has a 88% positive rating among audiences.

Justice League has an 80% positive rating among audiences.

Whoa.

Also being released this weekend and to little fanfare is Beyond Skyline, a sequel to a barely remembered sci-fi alien invasion film.  Currently, its rottentomatoes.com audience approval rating sits at 55%, just two points below Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

As I said before, I did not see this coming at all.

As you also may know, if you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, I’m not a huge Star Wars fan.  Though I was of the right at at the right time when the original film was released way back in 1977 and had/have a huge interest in all things sci-fi, Star Wars simply didn’t do all that much for me.

Mind you, that doesn’t mean I’m feeling glee at these frankly shocking review numbers.  I’ve always been a “live and let live” type guy and if Star Wars is your sci-fi nirvana, more power to you.

Even if Star Wars doesn’t do it for me personally, being so into sci-fi, I’m intrigued to read about the latest news/reviews on any sci-fi works, including Star Wars films.

Now, we are in only the opening days of the release of this film so perhaps people’s opinions will change in time.

The big question is: Will these opinions mellow over time, or become still more harsh?

We will see.

One thought on “I did not see that coming…”

Comments are closed.