I’ll admit it, I was one of the journalists suckered by the articles that Captain Marvel, the upcoming blockbuster from Marvel Studios, was being “review bombed” by fanboys online. I should have known better.
Comicbook.com, The Independent, IndieWire, The Playlist, GQ.com, CBR.com, Daily Express, Screen Rant, The Mirror, Bleeding Cool, and The Mary Sue, among many more, all reported yesterday that trolls were hounding Rotten Tomatoes and posting negative reviews of “Captain Marvel.”
The “review bombing” hoax seems to have started with Screen Rant and ComicBook.com, both of whom published articles on February 18th, 2019, decrying fans “review bombing” the movie.
ComicBook.com writes…
“A quick look at the audience reviews page for Captain Marvel over on Rotten Tomatoes has been flooded with negative, angry “reviews” of the film and while there are some genuine comments noting excitement for the film, most have an unsettling common theme: anger about Captain Marvel being centered around a female hero.”
ScreenRant’s title read “Trolls Are Already Review Bombing Captain Marvel on Rotten Tomatoes”, writing…
“A peek at Captain Marvel’s Rotten Tomatoes audience reviews reveals a slew of hateful comments left not just about the film but also about Larson herself. Most of the trolls’ comments are about Larson being a vocal feminist and how this movie pushes feminism to the forefront of the MCU. Because of this, they assume that the movie will ruin the franchise – with most of them announcing that they won’t be watching it in theaters. Obviously, one could argue that people expressing these opinions before Captain Marvel has even been released to theaters had no intention of ever seeing it to begin with.”
This is what’s actually happening. Comments are being written in the “Review” tab on RT but they are not reviews. They are comments about whether the person wants to see the film or not. The only thing you can do on Rotten Tomatoes is leave a comment and rate the movie with a “Want to See It” or a “Not Interested,” that is until Captain Marvel is released on March 8th, 2019—that’s when it switches into a user review section.
You can check for yourself on the Rotten Tomatoes review page. It’s fine for someone to list their reasons as to why or why not they want to see “Captain Marvel,” there is nothing wrong with that, but now, even the media is saying that if you write anything negative then it is chauvinistic.
This demonizing of an audience that might not want to see the film is a blatant attempt to make sure nobody messes around with “Captain Marvel” when it is released in two weeks. The Disney machine is on, much like it was with last year’s “Black Panther,” another film heavily promoted for its inclusiveness.
This is shady journalism at best. Take for example TV Overmind’s Brian Hadsell , who could have easily just gone to the the source of the problem and visited Rotten Tomatoes but instead wrote this:
“As soon as reviews and scoring of the movie opened up on website across the internet, these trolls flooded them with vehemently negative reviews in a naked attempt to trick people into not seeing it.”
This is yet another attempt by the media to promote the inclusivity factor of an MCU movie, no matter the quality. As mentioned before, the film will most likely open to positive reviews based on the heavy marketing campaign that is happening around it, which is centered on it being the first Marvel movie to feature a female lead. I, on the other hand, will have an open mind about it when I attend a press screening next week. I want to like it. I am a fan of its lead actress Brie Larson, and the film’s director duo composed of Anna Bolden/Ryan Fleck have a good track record (“Mississippi Grind,” “Sugar,” “Half Nelson”), but, much like the last year’s “Black Panther,” I sense the narrative is already set for “Captain Marvel,” and you better like it.
