The Matrix, The Last Jedi, and Online Film Criticism

I've noticed something recently, something that kinda gets under my skin.

You see, I started a film blog because I enjoy movies, and I enjoy talking about movies. I don't get paid for it, I don't get very much traffic, and I certainly don't do it so that I can shit-talk movies all day. I do it because discussing films, sometimes the negative aspects and definitely the positive aspects, is something that really fulfills me, and it disappoints me when I see critique that seems to only concern itself with being negative, and it seems like more and more "critique" is leaning heavy into negativity these days. Which brings us to a case study for a couple of recent films that seem to have the same issue...

The Matrix: Resurrections came out not that long ago and, much like Star Wars: The Last Jedi, it's a film that, intentionally or not, challenges common public perception of an established franchise (although I would actually argue that neither of them are massive departures from their originals, and that the power of public perception has turned these franchises into something else entirely divorced from their originals and that's exactly what these films are pushing back against BUT that's a completely different argument and not why I'm here right now). Also like The Last Jedi, it's a good movie that has some flaws, and this has led to a response from internet film critics, especially around the always reliable YouTube critic scene (heavy sarcasm), that I wouldn't exactly call...measured.

A lot of people seem to be under the impression that these two movies, or alternatively the people who made these two movies, hate the franchises they're a part of, and, I'll be honest, I'm not really sure where that comes from. Everyone is, of course, entitled to their own opinion, but the idea that these movies somehow disrespect other entries in their franchises just seems way off base. The Last Jedi, at least the movie that I saw, reminds us that our old favorites are still the heroes we remember after everything they've been through, that anyone can do the right thing, that failing isn't the end of your journey, and the only characters who want to "kill the past" are Snoke and Kylo Ren, the villains who are, ya know, wrong. Likewise, Resurrections reminds us that love was always at the center of the original trilogy (Neo was willing to risk Zion to save Trinity in the second film), and it wants to talk about how that message seems to have gotten lost in the discussion of everything else about the originals, that The Matrix can't be defined simply by it's visual style and meta-commentary.

Now, I'm not here to argue the merits of The Last Jedi or The Matrix: Resurrections as entertainment, and if you don't like either film as much as me that's totally cool (my best friend and I are on polar opposite sides regarding TLJ and it doesn't bother us one bit that we're going to disagree about it until the day we both die). What I'm here to point out is the bad-faith nature of criticism that these two movies in particular have managed to bring forth, and why it worries me. If we can't have civil discourse about films without devolving into nitpicking and overbearing negativity, if we can't step outside of echo chambers to have real discussions about the quality of movies or video games, then we aren't critiquing, we're just being mad to be mad, which doesn't do any good for anyone.

For example:

People have said that the throne room battle in The Last Jedi is the worst fight scene in Star Wars history, because there's a popular video pointing out some questionable editing and direction. For anyone who isn't sporting a massive hate-boner for this movie, that sounds absolutely ridiculous because we know better, we've all seen the lightsaber duel at the end of Attack of the Clones, or the duel between Palpatine and Mace Winduin 'Revenge of the Sith'. And yet, for this movies detractors, it's become one of their go-to's for making fun of the film and now I hear it everywhere. This is something I'm starting to see in criticism of the new Matrix film as well, especially the fight scenes, and it suffers from the same problem; putting every single scene, every frame, every line of dialogue under a microscope, without context, to find all of the things you don't like about it is obviously going to result in you finding "mistakes" (I call this "CinemaSins style" critique, which is to say, bad).

Aside from the nitpicks and unreasonable anger, a lot of the criticism surrounding these movies seems to concern itself with what these movies aren't, as opposed to what they are; The Last Jedi ISN'T Empire Strikes Back, the throne room scene ISN'T the Luke vs. Vader fight from Return of the Jedi, the fight scenes in Resurrections AREN'T the groundbreaking visual spectacle of the first one. I can't help but feel that framing criticisms in this way leaves no room for new movies to do their own thing and tell their own story, everyone is expecting them to pay homage to their predecessors because that's what we're used to getting from sequels; cheap reminders of how much better the originals were, or flaccid attempts to one-up them. Not every new movie is trying to be the best of the bunch, just let them tell the story they want to tell.

I'm not saying either of these films is without fault, they surely aren't, and an argument could be made that there is an opposite end to this regarding fans who refuse to acknowledge the flaws in media they enjoy (and Star Wars fans in particular are VERY guilty of this, believe me). But, that's a discussion for another day.

Poking fun at a movie/things in a movie that you think are bad should be something that brings you some modicum of joy and/or energy; at the very least it should be a venting exercise that you feel better about afterwards. It should be something done in fairness, that considers opposing arguments and doesn't present criticisms in a vacuum devoid of context. It shouldn't be something that pollutes a discussion with soul-sucking negativity and bad-faith arguments. If you don't like a movie, if The Matrix: Resurrections didn't float your particular boat, if The Last Jedi didn't tick your Star Wars boxes, more power to you, but for the love of film, can we all just please take a step back and RELAX. I mean jeez, I'm pretty mean to movies like The Rise of Skywalker (mostly because of what it represents, it's not the worst movie ever) or Army of the Dead, but I still attempt to keep things relatively light. I can still have a civil back and forth with someone who enjoyed both of those movies, because I'm not going to say some out-of-pocket nonsense like "The Rise of Skywalker RUINED MY CHILDHOOD". That's just silly.

I guess what I'm really trying to say here is: Please let us back away from this toxic, nitpick style of film criticism that's been so popularized by Youtube and all of these sensationalist critics who would rather see web traffic than have an actual discussion about movies. Hyperbole is all well and good for dramatic effect, but to give way to toxicity just for engagement isn't cute.