Is Russia Really Behind The Last Jedi's Negative Audience Reviews?

Image Credit: Disney/Entertainment Weekly

Probably not, but CNET.com seems to think so.

In their article titled 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' has low initial audience scores, they start out by asking, "Is there a Russian force behind this?"

Credit: CNET.com

Now, this is the only time Russia is mentioned in their piece, but its subtlety should not be overlooked since a growing trend among leftists/liberals is to blame the Russkies for everything that doesn't go their way. And yes, Hollyweird, along with their fanboy counterparts in the media, are mostly comprised of these kinds of people.

CNET continues:

"A mere 57 percent of the more than 83,000 audience reviewers said they liked it."

On Rotten Tomatoes, the audience score has actually dropped down to 56% (and a 3.3/5 average rating), with over 100,000 viewers reporting in:

"Some thought it was hard to follow what was going on. One even thought it had 'no charm' and 'no impactful revelations.'

"There was even talk of an abdication of traditional 'Star Wars' norms.

"Perhaps, you might think, this is the way audiences always react. An ungrateful bunch, at the best of times.

"Yet the rather plain -- to my eyes -- 'The Force Awakens' garnered an 88 percent audience approval rating. 'Rogue One' enjoyed an 87 percent score."

Surprisingly enough, the author (Chris Matyszczyk) gave some valid reasons that might explain why the audience score is so low:

1) Misplaced and awkward humor that just wasn't... very funny.

2) The plot was jumbled, hard to follow, had little charm and did not reveal any impactful revelations or help progress the overall story. Many felt the plot was extremely anti-climatic, leaving them with innumerable questions not only at the end of the movie, but throughout.

3) "Traditional Star Wars norms" were almost entirely absent from the story. Of course, the word "traditional" is subjective, so some will interpret this in their own way.

One oddity that has been brought up by many outlets is the large gap between the critic and audience reviews. While we already covered the audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the critics gave TLJ a whopping 93% (with 309 reporting in; 288 of which deemed it "fresh" while only 21 said it was "rotten").

IMDB showed some interesting results, with an average score of 7.9/10 (120,000+ total votes) and 54 critics giving it an overall 86/100 metascore:

Credit: IMDB

Credit: IMDB

Even though both the critic and audience ratings are supposedly closely aligned, many of the top audience reviews were extremely negative:

Credit: IMDB

So, is it really that hard to believe most viewers legitimately didn't like the new Star Wars? Was it necessary to throw in the absurd Russia angle at the very beginning of the article?

Considering many of the same folks who share Matyszczyk's sentiments are also probably drooling over Mueller's Trump-Russia collusion investigation and the (very slim) possibility that POTUS could be impeached and kicked out of the White House, throwing in a subtle poke about Russian intervention on a completely unrelated topic, such as movie reviews, is kind of a ridiculous and discrediting thing to do if they want to further their delusional cause.

Ever heard of The Boy Who Cried Wolf? If not, they might want to throw on their onesies and give it a read.