Last night, Rotten Tomatoes posted the tomato score for Godzilla: King Of The Monsters and it is not looking good. As of right now while I am typing this, the score is 48% Rotten. This is making everybody (including myself, admittedly) felt very disheartened by the results. Some of you may have already seen my comments about the tomato rating for Godzilla: King Of The Monsters and know by now that Rotten Tomatoes is not the end all be all.
There are plenty of movie reviews from many sources most of them giving positive ratings. Even on Twitter when the movie had the premiere there were loads of people both fans and non-fans alike giving compliments to Godzilla: King Of The Monsters. On IMDB, the movie is currently at a 7.8/10 stars. Again, most of the reviews are positive. Den Of Geek rates the movie 4/5 stars. Bloody Disgusting using skulls to rate the movies gives the movie 4/5 skulls. It's not hard to find positive reviews. Plus, look at how many reviews are counted so far. There are only 66 of them counted for. Not all of the reviews are in. Usually, there would be over 200 reviews before Rotten Tomatoes gives the critics consensus, but the consensus was posted on day 1. Rotten Tomatoes already knew what the consensus was going to be before even giving the movie a chance.
There is one more reviewer that should also be respected. That person is YOU. You decide whether a movie is good or bad. A word of mouth to a friend at school or a colleague at work or anybody on social media can make a whole lot of difference. The critics on Rotten Tomatoes, on the other hand, are doing the same thing except they are doing it to make money. They don't really care about the movie. This was proved back in March when Disney/Marvel's Captain Marvel movie was released and Rotten Tomatoes was deleting negative audience scores so the movie didn't look bad. This was during the time when there was controversy surrounding the actress, Brie Larson, for her racy comments towards fans and critics. What happened was that Rotten Tomatoes hired paid reviewers to review bomb the movie with positive reviews and it back fires with all of those reviews saying the same exact thing over and over. They were copy and pasted reviews and the critics were not hiding it at the slightest. The fact that Rotten Tomatoes was deleting audience scores and paying reviewers to raise the movie's score all because of politics shows that they are not as powerful as they think they are. To be afraid of the audience score means that they know which reviews were more reliable. Your own voice as a fan and an audience member has more influence than a paid critic.
Take Aladdin as an example. The movie's score was given 57% Rotten by critics. Over on the audience score it is rated 97% Fresh. Every critic has slammed it for being bland and was hating on Will Smith's portrayal as Genie. However, the audience loves this movie. I have actually heard really great things about it. I heard that Will Smith actually does a good job playing as Genie, they loved the other characters as well, and loved the music. When you actually read the reviews from the critics, they sound like they were copy and pasted off from the YouTube comments section for the trailers. Before the movie came out, Aladdin was being torn to shreds on YouTube and social media and it actually did not look as good to most people. Now, the movie is out and it turns out it was better than expected and the movie made $91 million on the first weekend.
By talking about the Rotten Tomatoes score any further it will ruin your own experience. We are two days away (technically one day if you count the Thursday evening showings) and this is the time when all of us as fans should be showing how excited we are for this movie. The wait is almost over and all of us should be annoying our friends and family members until their ears bleed. My recommendation is that you get off the internet, go outside, and get some air for a while. Cool yourself off by going into the pool (that is if it's the right weather) or getting yourself prepared to see Godzilla: King Of The Monsters. Buy a Godzilla t-shirt to wear at the movie or watch Godzilla (2014). Do something that shows how much you support this movie that will get others excited. This is your time to shine and no critic is going to stop you from enjoying this movie you have been waiting for for 5 years. Once you have settled down and did what you need to do, come back and jump back on the hype train because we still have Godzilla vs Kong to look forward to next year.
By presenting all of this is to show just how unreliable and shady Rotten Tomatoes has become. Nobody should ever look at their website as the end all be all. If you want an honest review read reviews from somebody like a fan blog or a YouTuber that you rely on most for your information. Never forget that you also have your own voice as well and if you like or dislike something then you should make your voice known.