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Can Hype Kill a Movie?


In order to understand this concept you first have to understand me. I love movies, I'll really watch anything, just give me a bowl of something to munch on/hide behind. There are movies out there I don't like and I can be really opinionated while watching a movie. Especially if that movie is terrible. Examples of this are Deathly Hallows Part 1, The Amazing Spider-man 2 and Transformers 2-4.

Last night I watched Terminator Genysis, and I didn't hate it. Now when the trailers dropped for this movie I was excited. I really wanted to go see it but was put off by critics who literally told me that this was the worst movie ever, and the worst Terminator sequel. I am not saying this film was the best film I have ever seen, but it certainly wasn't as bad as Terminator 3.

I laughed during this movie, several times, there were some plot holes. Who the hell sent Pops (Arnold Schwarzenegger) back to a young Sarah Connor? I understand Pops was the reason for the different timeline, even though it wasn't really explained that much. There was way too much CGI in this movie, but that's because we compare these movies to James Cameron's practical effects of the first two. I kept waiting to hate this movie, because I was told I would and I really didn't.

So this leads me to ask, does this constant hype kill movies? Well some movies yes, especially sequels. There are exceptions to this rule, sequels with a lot of action are great examples. We have so many expectations on these movies that we can't even enjoy them for what they are. Pacific Rim had a worse plot than Terminator Genysis and everyone loved that. Why? Because it had no expectations, no hype and everyone loves seeing Robots kick the crap out of Monsters.


I used Pacific Rim as an example of another summer blockbuster, but I can do more. Let's take Armageddon as another example, it again was a summer blockbuster which is on a top list of summer blockbusters of all time. It's plot is also pretty ridiculous, drillers in space, it's not even scientifically accurate but people love it. Why? Because space is cool, and summer blockbusters don't need to make sense.

Summer blockbuster are flicks we can just zone out to, action filled and easy to follow while not making much or any sense *cough Mad Max Fury Road*. Terminator Genisys follows this formula, just like every other summer movie before it so why did every critic including rotten tomatoes score this movie so low (26%) when the other examples I have given are so high on critics lists?

Hype, yes it's all because of the hype! The movie has a lot of action, a weird story and is pretty easy to follow besides the small holes I have pointed out before. If this movie did not have Terminator in its name most moviegoers would not have all these expectations placed on top of it. If the trailer didn't make us think the story was going another direction then maybe it wouldn't have been so disappointing at the time. I urge you all to watch the movie again, if you still hate it then at least you tried and you can move on with your life.

Maybe I did not hate this movie as I went into it expecting to hate it. But it wasn't just me, my other half also didn't hate this movie. Now it's time to understand him, he will only watch sci-fi, action, horror and thriller movies. He is picky, and if I like something he usually hates it (opposites attract and all that). He is a huge Terminator fan, well one and two. He put the movie on in order to see just how bad it was. He also has some issues with Terminator Genysis, the exact issues I had above, but he also didn't hate it.



I was surprised that we both didn't hate it as I stated about we are both opposites and this made me really sit down and think. If we didn't hate it (remember I think it wasn't great but it wasn't terrible) when we have very different opinions on basically everything, why did everyone else? Was it that bad or was it just your hype/expectations? Can you honestly say this movie was that terrible? A movie which in its first act stuck that close to the first movie that Kyle Reese wore the exact same trainers, and the t-800 (CGI Arnie) appeared at the same garbage truck.

Hype kills movies, plain and simple, and if you don't believe me you should wait a few months to see the next big blockbuster which is taken down by critics. Maybe it's just our culture of we need this NOW, that has let us down. I believe if this movie was made back in 2003, instead of Terminator 3 then we would really enjoy it. The hype kills, and so do the trailers which need to show us everything in order for us to make our own opinion of what we are going to see before we even see it. I am guilty of this fact myself, maybe we should all go back to a time where trailers don't ruin anything and then we might not be disappointed in an ok film which hold up when compared to other blockbusters.

Feel free to argue with me in the comments below.

GIVE ME YOUR CLOTHES, YOUR BOOTS AND YOUR MOTORCYCLE!

P.S. Why do they have to spell Genesis like that, why does everything need a Y?
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Location: Scotland, UK

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