Critic Who Hated The Original Star Wars Stands By His Original Review

The Minneapolis Star Tribune has an interesting article from their former movie critic discussing why he panned the original Star Wars when it first came out forty years ago and why he stands by his review today. Discussing the movie, he stated it had a silly plot, terrible dialogue, yet had great special effects. He also stands by his praise of Carrie Fisher’s performance, calling her a take charge character that was a “sort of precursor” to feminism. The critic, Bob Lundegaard, had this to say.

Of course I had no idea it would become one of the most successful movies ever, spawning sequels and video games and T-shirts that collectively have grossed more than $42 billion dollars. Who knew?

But critics can be stubborn. I stand behind my original assessment, which essentially was “don’t bring your brains with you,” but “your kids will love it.” Mine certainly did, and they never let me forget it.

This got me thinking about critics in general. At the end of the day, the job of a critic is to give their opinion of a piece, in this case a movie. Does that make their opinion right? In the case of entertainment, does it matter? While talk of mistakes from filmmakers are definitely fair game, that still doesn’t take away from the fact that others may enjoy the movie despite a critic saying otherwise.

Take movies from the DCEU. There are folks, some who write for this very website, who contend that the films released to date from Warner Brothers have flaws and could have been better than they were. Should the people who enjoy these movies be upset over the fact that others may disagree with them? No. By all means, argue your point. The internet has comment sections for a reason. But being upset that someone has a contrary opinion from yours about a movie just makes no sense.

This critic, if you think about it, was right about Star Wars. The plot was simplistic and silly. The dialogue at times was pretty terrible. Carrie Fisher had gone on record herself ripping into the dialogue from the first film in the documentary Empire of Dreams. Does that take away from the fact that I feel Star Wars is one of the greatest films ever made? Not at all.

So what do you think? How should the opinion of critics be taken? Do you feel some people are too sensitive when critics disagree with how they view particular properties? Sound off in the comments section below.

Don’t forget to share this post on your Facebook wall and with your Twitter followers! Just hit the buttons on the top of this page.

SOURCE: Minneapolis Star Tribune

Night Terror Banner   GenreVerse FOR FANBOYS, BY FANBOYS Have you checked out LRM Online’s official podcasts and videos on The Genreverse Podcast Network? Available on YouTube and all your favorite podcast apps, This multimedia empire includes The Daily CoGBreaking Geek Radio: The Podcast, GeekScholars Movie News, Anime-Versal Review Podcast, and our Star Wars dedicated podcast The Cantina. Check it out by listening on all your favorite podcast apps, or watching on YouTube! Subscribe on: Apple PodcastsSpotify |  SoundCloud | Stitcher | Google Play
Share the Post: