It’s become the cool thing in movie fandom circles to say “I don’t pay attention to critics”. Oh I have no doubt at all that for SOME people that is true, but there seems to be a prevailing idea out there these days that critics are pretty much ignored and that everyone is far too cool to listen to anything they have to say.
Now, I’m no film critic, but even I have known this idea was bullshit. If I ever had any doubt whatsoever that this idea was bullshit… the last few days have cleared that up for me.
Case in point: G.I. Joe
Up until about a week ago, the vast general sentiment online amongst film fans was that the trailers and casting and images from the upcoming G.I. Joe movie absolutely sucked and sucked hard. Yes there were some people still excited about seeing the movie (like me… because I’m stupid), but hope that the film would be any good whatsoever was slim.
In the span of 1 solitary week… that sentiment online has ALMOST entirely changed. Paramount even pulled the old “let’s not show it to critics” trick, except for a few hand selected critics who are generally fans of this genre (some people make the lame argument that because some of these critics didn’t like Transformers 2, that means they’re not pre-disposed to being fans of the genre… which is total nonsense. I didn’t like Transformers 2 either, but I’ll tell you right now I’m predisposed to liking comic book/sci fi/ action adventure genre films in a heart beat).
So what happened that suddenly changed the entire perception online of this film from resoundingly negative to almost universally positive? Critics.
The opinion of basically 4 critics who were allowed to see the movie (all guys by the way that I really respect) came out and said they liked-really liked the movie.
That’s it. No new trailers. No sudden revelations. No new pictures of Cobra Commander or Destro. Just the word of a couple of critics who saw the movie and said it was good has single handedly changed the entire perception of the online world about this movie.
I’m CERTAINLY NOT saying this is a bad thing. On the contrary as a matter of fact.
But seriously… for those of you who may disagree with what I’m saying… you can’t deny there is a massive perception shift of the movie from about a week ago to today. That’s indisputable. You also can’t really deny the only thing that has changed from then to now is the word of a small handful of online critics. Nothing else new has happened.
So the next time someone tells me “Critics don’t mean anything”, I’m just going to politely smile, but in my head scream out “BULLSHIT”.
Personally, despite my excitement to see the film I have no doubt whatsoever the film will suck. Hopefully I’m dead wrong and friends of mine from CHUD or Latino Review are right. But this post isn’t about if G.I. Joe will be good or bad. It’s how the word of just a few critics has shifted reality and changed how the online universe perceives a movie in just about a week’s time. Don’t tell me no one listens to critics… because my friends, we clearly do.
Now, off to get my tickets for Joe tonight.
