The Power of Movie Reviews

When I first started this movie blog, I had figured out that I would have to write tons of reviews. I thought about it in an instant because it is how a movie blog goes: we provide reviews and news. Of course I know that reviews and news would not be enough and I would have to offer something different from the rest movie blogs out there. At that time, I didn't realize the hidden yet ominous power of a review itself.

Just recently, I read New Rule: Movies are ALWAYS Bad from 99.1 WMYX by Kidd O'Shea who tells about his experience watching Hot Tub Time Machine. Apparently he went and watched the movie expecting that the movie would be as good as Knocked Up and The Hangover--the two movies which he regards highly--because some people told him so. The high regard he has towards those movies elevated his expectation of Hot Tub Time Machine, and the higher the expectation, the higher the fall. It is not that the movie itself is bad and disappointing, but it is more because of the bar was set too high. If only the bar had been set to a lower standard, he might have found that the movie was alright--not that good, but not that bad either.

Reading this got me into thinking how we indeed use others' opinion and judgment to shape our own expectation and even perception. This will become more effective when the person making the judgment is respected or known by us. We do have our own perspectives and thoughts, but aren't most of our actions based on our initial perception? Putting this as a consideration, we can say that movie reviews have the very same power which can shape movie viewers' perception even before they watch a movie. A movie which has received good reviews will surely draw more people to come and watch it, and people who step into the cinema knowing that the movie has got good reviews will sit back and enjoy the movie with one thought in mind: this is a good movie. Even if somehow their consciousness refuses to acknowledge the goodness of the movie, movie viewers will most likely end up questioning their own perception. This alone is an ultimate feat which make movie reviews become powerful in shaping the public's assumption.

We always say that people have their own mind, their own taste, their own will, their own perspective about everything, especially movies. However, we always seem to have the need for a justification or somebody to back us up--in this case, it comes in the form of reviews. We always need somebody to lay out the outline first, putting the stepping stone which will create the foreground for us to even consider a movie worth seeing. I am not saying that movie reviews should be banned and erased from our sight, but they just have to be fair. With great power comes great responsibility, and with that tremendous power movie reviews have, it is important that they should be made with pure, unbiased, and honest thoughts. I still read reviews before I go and see a movie because I find it necessary to know more about the movie I am going to watch. However, there are times when I regret having read a review because sometimes it is overdone and it takes the excitement of not knowing and guessing the storyline out of me. In the end, no matter what wonderful or dreadful review we read before we watch a movie, it is very important to assume nothing when we actually watch it. Once in a while though, it is always nice to just walk to a cinema, buy a ticket, and just enjoy a movie without worrying too much about what the rest of the world say about the movie. After all, we are what we are, not what we are told.