Once in a while, discussion turns to the Rotten Tomatoes review aggregator, but not for the right reasons. The last time it happened was when Suicide Squad was released, with fans complaining that the website favored MCU movies and bashed DCEU movies. Things went so far that people were circulating petitions to shut down the site, which obviously didn't happen.
Well, now Rotten Tomatoes is being bashed, but this time the basher is someone in Hollywood. And that someone is Brett Ratner, who at one time was best known for directing Rush Hour. Here’s what he had to say about the website:
The worst thing that we have in today's movie culture is Rotten Tomatoes"¦I think it's the destruction of our business. I have such respect and admiration for film criticism. When I was growing up, film criticism was a real art"¦there was intellect that went into that. You would read Pauline's Kael's reviews, or some others, and that doesn't exist anymore. Now it's about a number. A compounded number of how many positives vs. negatives. Now it's about, “What's your Rotten Tomatoes score?” And that's sad, because the Rotten Tomatoes score was so low on Batman v Superman, I think it put a cloud over a movie that was incredibly successful. (via EW)
Sure, it might sound as though he wants to direct a DCEU movie, but his company did co-finance Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. So there is also this. Brett Ratner isn't known for directing critically acclaimed movies. Four of his ten movies have been certified fresh on the review aggregator.
It’s interesting that Ratner also directed X-Men: The Last Stand, one of the worst X-Men movies ever. Obviously, the movie isn't fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. However, as far as we’re concerned, it should have an even lower rating (58%), given its handling of the Dark Phoenix arc and some of the movie’s characters.
Rotten Tomatoes did issue a response to Ratner’s remarks, and we agree with it:
At Rotten Tomatoes, we completely agree that film criticism is valuable and important, and we're making it easier than it has ever been for fans to access potentially hundreds of professional reviews for a given film or TV show in one place. The Tomatometer score, which is the percentage of positive reviews published by professional critics, has become a useful decision-making tool for fans, but we believe it's just a starting point for them to begin discussing, debating, and sharing their own opinions. (via Screen Rant)
What the critics say is important, but not to the degree that Brett Ratner says it is. Ultimately, we can – and should – decide for ourselves. And since we mentioned Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, these movies were bashed and destroyed on Rotten Tomatoes, but they still made tons of cash.
So no, it isn't the end of the movie industry just yet.
