While the critical approval has been fairly high for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, many fans have been disappointed ever since the film hit theaters. In fact the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes seems to indicate the fan base is completely split as to whether the film was good or not.
According to the Huffington Post, however, one self-acclaimed “alt-right” fan admits to helping tank the film’s rating. He insists that with the aid of bots he created, the fan was able to lower the audience score.
“There were supposed to be a trilogy of books and then some after set in the Legends canon. But [Lucasfilm executives] Kathleen Kennedy and Pablo Hidalgo wanted to pursue their own feminst [sic] agenda,” the anonymous person wrote. “I was never going to like The Last Jedi anyway because [it] erases everything the EU ever did.”
He’s not the only one, however, as fans on social media websites like Facebook and 4Chan have also admitted to helping tank the film’s score with bots. Many of them have explained their bots may have also left negative reviews for The Shape of Water by accident, but Rotten Tomatoes seems to have disputed this claim, saying:
“We have several teams of security, network, and social database experts who constantly monitor reviews and ratings to ensure that they are genuine. They haven’t seen anything unusual with The Last Jedi, except that there has been an uptick in the number of written user reviews submitted. Aside from that, everything is normal and we don’t see any unusual activity. We looked at The Last Jedi compared to other blockbusters and it has been consistent with those past films.”
Benson added:
“I can’t explain why there’s such a disparity. How we take this is that people are super passionate about this movie. On the positive side, our site is popular, and it has become an important platform for debate and discussion.”
Naturally, of course, a ratings website like Rotten Tomatoes wouldn’t reveal something like that anyways. And internet trolls taking credit for things they have nothing to do with isn’t anything new either. But in the end it wouldn’t surprise me if they did manage to tank the film’s score.
The Last Jedi is only another push for fans who’ve hated everything Disney has sought to do with the Star Wars franchise. While some fans are happy to get a Star Wars movie each year, many others are angry to see the name become so commercialized and worn out.
Only time will tell how The Last Jedi stands, or whether it’ll be erased from the minds of fans much like the Star Wars EU before it.
What did you think of Star Wars: The Last Jedi? Be sure to tell us your thoughts in the comments!