Posted in: Movies, Star Wars | Tagged: black panther, film, pacific rim: uprising, star wars, star wars: the last jedi

John Boyega Has Some Choice Words For People Who Allegedly Review Bombed Black Panther and The Last Jedi

Published Wed, 07 Mar 2018 18:20:51 -0600

The world of online criticism has been a bit of a mess since mid December when Star Wars: The Last Jedi came out. The audience and critical scores were lining up even less than usual and there was something odd about the reviews themselves. Then someone allegedly took credit for the low scores and a similar group announced their intentions to do the same to Black Panther. This sort of "review bombing" is something seen on Steam but it's new to Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. Or at least it's never gotten this much mainstream coverage. During an interview with John Boyega about the upcoming Pacific Rim Uprising The Huffington Post asked him about the review bombs and what he would say to those people.

"I would say that they need to definitely get job applications to utilize their time for a much more suitable thing. I think they're too bored. We need to get more people working for their jobs, man. I think like, don't you have a family? And time? I don't understand it. I don't really think it's that deep. I think 'Black Panther' has done what it's done because of the creativity and great work. And I think a few people saying they're going to [mess] with Rotten Tomatoes marks ain't gonna do nothing, man. We give too much attention to those who don't deserve it."

Both of these movies were targeted, in part, because of their diverse casts. This is something that Pacific Rim Uprising also has and Boyega was asked if he thought this movie would be targeted because it is "trying to be inclusive". Boyega disagrees with the entire concept of "trying to be inclusive".

"The fact is, is that our world isn't trying to be inclusive. It just is. What it is and what it would be if there would be a giant attack against our planet — it wouldn't be one race involved, so it's common sense."

On a personal level Boyega seems quite sick of trying to explain all of this to people who just refuse to listen.

"The world in which we live in isn't just one shade, so people want to see the world and the reality of the world on-screen as it relates to the story. And as it relates to our story, it's a world war in which the world has to come together against a Kaiju attack," he said. "Race isn't a forefront player in our world because there are bigger issues, and I think sometimes stories like this expose how stupid we all are running around trying to work things out with people who don't understand common sense."

People of color and women keep saying this over and over again yet it seems that some people insist on not listening. At this point we just have to keep speaking with our wallets and proving that we want these movies by supporting them. The studios will listen to money before they'll listen to our voices.

Summary: Jake Pentecost, son of Stacker Pentecost, reunites with Mako Mori to lead a new generation of Jaeger pilots, including rival Lambert and 15-year-old hacker Amara, against a new Kaiju threat.

Pacific Rim Uprising, directed by Steven S. DeKnight, stars John Boyega, Tian Jing, Scott Eastwood, Adria Arjona, Charlie Day, and Burn Gorman. It will be released March 23rd.

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