It’s unfortunate to say that movie critics have a stranglehold on the industry and the success of a film is usually directly related to their opinion.
The main website where this occurs is Rotten Tomatoes, which is basically a collective rating system amongst critics who consider whether it’s “fresh” or “rotten” where 60% is the dividing line.
And critics destroyed this Hollywood movie but fans beg to differ.
The idea of a professional critic is nothing short of insulting, but unfortunately the reality is they are the gateway into the industry they’re covering. It’s not to say they aren’t knowledgeable but it’s not unfair to say they are industry professionals despite, in most cases, they failed miserably at the career they strived for and why they became critics.
Nowhere is that more emphatic of a notion than in the film and television industry. The Hollywood industry is arguably one of the toughest in the world to break into and there are many movie critics that tried to do just that.
Are they film or television historians? Sure they are and they have to be, but with that comes a pretentiousness that they can do what they’re watching better than the filmmakers.
And sometimes they are so pretentious they have no idea what the collective American culture wants. Occasionally they’re right but more often than not.
“Hellboy” just hit theaters – starring the incomparable David Harbour in the titular role – this last weekend to unbelievably horrible reviews and currently holds a dreadful 15% score on Rotten Tomatoes out of 157 “professional” movie critic reviews.
They were not fair or kind with their opinion on the movie, but if you look on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) and surf the user reviews that people have posted since it opened Thursday night are glowing – filled with nothing but 8’s, 9’s and 10’s out of a 10-star rating.
Reviewer mckeesan wrote, “The new Hellboy was a helluva good time. Yes, it’s different from the previous two films. But give it a chance. Harbour does a fantastic job as Hellboy. And the movie draws far more on the source/comic material than the previous films. If you loved the comics, you’ll enjoy this movie. Plenty of humor, action, and fantasy to hold your interest.”
Another reviewer named filiprada said, “The movie is all a Hellboy movie should be. I really don’t understand the hate towards it. Really refreshing stuff and much better then previous movies. 10/10 in my book.”
And maybe one of the best reviews from grantscharoff, “Non-stop action. Heavy Harbour. Horror. Maleficent Milla. Monsters. Diamond Dae Kim. Darkness. Charming Haden Church. Gore! This movie is an absolute fun to watch. Forget about the R-rating and leave the previous Hellboy movies to rest in peace. Harbour’s Hellboy has his own face, voice, jokes and hellish attitude. He owns both worlds – down below and right here. You will love him! A new cult movie was born tonight!”
But there are hundreds of reviews exactly like the aforementioned. If you don’t believe it, go check it out for yourself.
So what’s the problem? Why are critics so snooty about this movie?
One problem could be that it was very different from the Guillermo del Toro movies featuring Ron Perlman as Hellboy. Those films were very beloved but it’s mainly due to del Toro because he’s one of the darling directors of the industry so “nobody could possibly compare to his adaptations!”
The famous Spanish director is just coming off his Oscars for Best Achievement in Directing and Best Motion Picture of the Year for “The Shape of Water,” but he’s also known for “Pan’s Labrynth,” which was a hailed by critics as a masterpiece.
You can probably assume a film’s critic bias against the film at this point.
Another thing is del Toro’s version deviated very far from the original comic book source material, while this new version was a hard “R-rated” that was faithful to its creator.