12 Critical Responses To 2017 Films That Make No Sense
The Internet's big mistakes from 2017.
There will never be a film that unifies 100% of its audience. Since film is a subjective medium, it is nigh impossible to find any sort of judgment that can be considered truly objective, despite repeated calls in angry comment sections about "biased reviewers".
That's exactly why we have the various review aggregator sites online that allow critics and audiences to give an average score. Not only is it a handy pass/fail method of assessment for those who deal solely in binaries, but it also offers a broad view of just how divisive even the most successful films can be.
But can these scores be trusted?
Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritc and IMDb all have a major thing in common: they are all absolutely littered with critical ratings that don't make the slightest bit of sense. Every year contains some of these and 2017 was no different. Many films were unfairly bashed while others were hopelessly over-praised. Can online review scores be trusted? Judging by how unfairly these 2017 movies were judged, there's definitely reason to be pessimistic.
12. The Belko Experiment
The Film:
80 Americans working at an office block in rural Colombia are trapped inside and forced to kill each other. Think The Hunger Games/Battle Royale with suits.
The Response:
Mixed but largely indifferent. It was hard to even find a showing of the film, so it came and went with little fanfare.
Why They Got It Wrong:
The Belko Experiment is admittedly no great movie. It takes itself far too seriously and doesn't take advantage of the premise's potential to work as social commentary or a dark satire. However, this is definitely better than many other modern horror films and deserves more respect.
This is a suspenseful, genuinely jolting thriller with slick direction from Australian horror maestro Greg McLean and surprisingly good acting for a horror movie. The film's sadistic, vicious violence will rattle everyone, while the ludicrous amounts of gore will leave even the most desensitized viewers feeling a little queasy. That's a far bigger effect than many modern horror films with far more exposure will have on anyone.
Extra points for the terrific and darkly ironical use of music throughout the film. There's no doubt this is an absolutely solid genre film with plenty of shocks, and most will find it pretty watchable. Want to know what the insides of people's heads look like? This film is for you.